Natural Security (NS) announced a new partnership with Spartan Shops, the retail and residential dining service provider for San Jose State University (SJSU) in California, to implement biometric authentication at the university’s residential dining hall. Biometric authentication used for the SJSU dining hall that receives up to 7,000 customers a day, combines mid-range contactless technology. Biometric information is stored on student’s mobile phones, while fingerprint readers are employed at the hall entrance. The project is to start in July this year.
Natural Security (NS) announced a new partnership with Spartan Shops, the retail and residential dining service provider for San Jose State University (SJSU) in California, to implement biometric authentication at the university's residential dining hall. Biometric authentication used for the SJSU dining hall that receives up to 7,000 customers a day, combines mid-range contactless technology. Biometric information is stored on student's mobile phones, while fingerprint readers are employed at the hall entrance. The project is to start in July this year.
“With almost 2,500 unlimited-entry meal plan members at the university, we needed a more efficient system for authenticating students to access to the residential dining hall,” said Brian Mitchler from Spartan Shops. “The NS authentication method improves security and will allow us to monitor access more effectively, improving internal processes.”
Students will be able to enter the dining hall by simply placing a finger on a biometric reader situated at the entrance and without the need to handle or expose their personal device. The end-user biometric data is only stored in the personal device the user carries so it is always under their control.
“As each device contains the students' unique biometric information it cannot be used by anyone else,” said Cedric Hozanne, CEO at Natural Security. “This removes many of the usual issues surrounding security, for example impersonation, because of loss or theft.”
The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology and collect feedback on usage experiences from the participants to feed into future projects. Following a successful trial the new system will be rolled out to all 3,000 students accessing the residential dining hall. This same method of authentication may also be extended to other university areas such as access to premises, access to online resources or even transport.