Biometric solutions are quickly replacing most other modes of access control worldwide as customers increasingly seek better security and convenience. This has become all the more critical as businesses try to navigate through economic uncertainties and changing health care guidelines.
 
Unfortunately, many of the solutions available in the market today cannot meet all the user requirements. Not all companies are able to provide the advanced technology needed to ensure accuracy and speed while not compromising on privacy. Worse still, many are inefficient at handling cybersecurity threats that can potentially wipe out a business in seconds.
 
This is where ZKTeco strives to make a difference to its customers, remaining a class apart in the market. After several innovative offerings over the years, the company has now developed two new biometric solutions – the KF1000 face reader series and ProMA multi-biometric access control terminals.

Targeting customer needs with new biometric solutions

The key to ZKTeco’s solutions lies in its clear understanding of customer pain points. Speaking to asmag.com recently, Jack Duan, Global Product Manager at ZKTeco, pointed out that the company has consistently innovated on its core strengths to meet ever-evolving market needs.

“ZKTeco is inherently a biometric-oriented company, so promoting biometric solutions will always be our primary goal. Facial recognition is certainly one of the most promising technologies in the field,” Raymond So, Global Marketing Manager at ZKTeco, added.
   

ZKTeco KF1000 facial readers

The KF1000 series is the next-generation facial recognition reader available in two models – the KF1100, compatible with an Asian-gang box, and KF1200, a single-gang box. “It is designed to provide maximum benefits with an extremely narrow metal frame, a 2.5D glass panel without a screen, support for visible light facial recognition and a multi-frequency identification card. The biometrics solution can support 1,500 faces and 30,000 cards,” Duan said.
 
According to So, the KF1000 series is set to introduce a whole new concept to the access control market. “The KF1000 series can work with our InBio series controller, offering a new option for existing InBio controller users to upgrade their solutions with facial recognition. Although other brands might have launched similar products, they typically use standalone terminals to act as secondary facial recognition readers,” he said. “An integrated secondary reader design with KF1000 will be more installation-friendly and cost-effective for projects of any scale as it can greatly reduce the wiring/cabling and network switches/router costs.”
 
People are paying more attention to privacy today, and facial recognition is inevitably in the spotlight because of the nature of the data being captured. Modern facial recognition solutions must offer robust data protection and management features that allow businesses and their customers’ peace of mind.

“ZKTeco understands these concerns and assures protection by consistently upgrading the crypto techniques in its systems and terminals, using industry-leading encryption protocols such as AES-256 and TLS1.2,” So explained.
 

ZKTeco ProMA multi-biometric access control terminal

The ZKTeco ProMA is a new high-end, outdoor multi-biometric access control standalone terminal built with an ultra-robust aluminum alloy cast casing. According to Jack Duan, the ProMA is positioned to address two major challenges for facial recognition applications.

Performance in challenging outdoor and extreme installations 

Facial recognition terminals can often struggle to capture images in poor lighting and weather conditions, being exposed to water or dust, varying temperatures, humidity and a host of other similar factors. Built to withstand these challenging environments, the ProMA series offers enhanced physical protection with water and dust-proof standards (IP66) and vandal-proof standards (IK07). It can operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 55°C and storage temperatures from -25°C to 65°C, making it suitable for extreme environments.

Poor user experience

Poor user experience can result from a myriad of factors such as the installation setup itself, lighting conditions, user habits, or real-life recognition speeds that are way below what was promised based on lab tests (around 0.5 seconds).  

So how does the ProMA measure up? “The authentication speed of these terminals is stunning – facial recognition speed is less than 0.3 seconds per face, touchless palm recognition is 0.35 seconds per hand and RFID recognition is 0.2 seconds – all of which makes the ProMA an ideal choice for any application,” Duan said. “Despite their compact size, the terminal authentication template capacity is best in the industry, supporting up to 10,000 fingerprints, 30,000 faces, 5,000 palms, and 50,000 RFID cards.”
 
ZKTeco also worked on user experience from another angle, extending ProMA’s recognition distance to as far as three meters and widening the pose angle tolerance (pitch, yaw and roll) to +/- 30 degrees. The ProMA series also supports the ZKTeco PUSH communication protocol and fully integrates with the latest hybrid biometric technology and computer vision security platform ZKBio CVSecurity V6600.
 
To address rising demands for multi-factor biometric authentication, the ProMA series comes in three models offering different modality combinations, with touchless palm recognition as an optional add-on.

• ProMA-QR (Face, QR code, RFID)
• ProMA-RF (Face, RFID)
• ProMA (Face, fingerprint, RFID)
   
  

An ideal biometric option for integrators and customers

ZKTeco’s latest products are a great addition to systems integrators’ portfolios as they strive to provide the best solutions to their customers. “The ProMA and KF1000 series are the best choices for system integrators to offer maximum value to their customers. ProMA is waterproof (IP66), explosion-proof (IK07), and has good light adaptability (0 Lux to 100,000 Lux). The KF1000& InBio controller can enable complete contactless facial access control management,” Duan explained.
 
Security companies must remain proactive as technology progresses and customer demands change. ProMA and KF1000 are proactive steps to ease the burden on customers while boosting their businesses. As we advance, the market would surely want to see such innovation across industries.