Biometrics solutions are seeing growing demands. More and more they are seen not just in government installations but also in private projects as well. This increase in demand is expected to further drive related products and solutions, according to Gemalto.
Biometrics solutions are seeing growing demands. More and more they are seen not just in government installations but also in private projects as well. This increase in demand is expected to further drive related products and solutions.
That’s the point made by
Gemalto, which recently announced the Gemalto Cogent Automated Biometric Identification System (CABIS 7.0). This marks the first major product launch since Gemalto’s acquisition of 3M’s Identity Management Business, 3M Cogent.
“The CABIS 7.0 is able to process, edit, search, and store multimodal biometric information, such as fingerprint, palm print, latent prints, facial, and iris data. In addition, now fitted with cloud-based abilities, the new CABIS system will accelerate deployment of biometrics services for all our customers,” said Jimmy Ang, Marketing Director for Government Programs for APAC at Gemalto.
Apart from CABIS, Gemalto also offers a suite of biometric solutions that cater to different identification needs, Ang said. These include the Live Face Identification System (LFIS) which allows the end user to connect multiple IP cameras or mobile devices to the software and is able to identify persons of interest in a crowd in a matter of seconds. All this identification is done without human intervention and in a non-obtrusive manner, Ang said.
“Our LFIS uses the ‘several-to-many’ technology, which captures several images of each person and compares them to many different reference images, maximizing the accuracy of matches and likelihood of a successful identification,” he said.
Growth drivers
According to Ang, several factors are expected to drive biometrics adoptions. One is expanding usage in both public and private sectors. “Biometrics is seeing immense opportunity and development outside of the public sector in which it has been routinely used to identify and apprehend criminals. For example, MasterCard now allows customers to make payment with a selfie. The automotive industry is also looking to incorporate biometrics into the cars of the future, which will recognize the owners as they approach and unlock the doors automatically. In the smart home arena, Amazon Echo is now able to identify homeowner’s voice automatically, allowing it to take in commands uttered only by the authorized users. We believe there will be more and more inventive use cases for biometrics in the near future,” he said.
Ang also cited fighting terrorism and identifying refugees as other use scenarios. “In recent years, increased terrorism and the influx of refugees are creating an identification crisis for governments around the world, especially in Europe. The European Union has approved several projects focused on strengthening the border control, and systems leveraging biometrics are to be implemented within the next few years. In this scenario, the goal is to accurately identify the bona fide refugees and travelers at the border. And to do so boils down to having a robust, comprehensive system that can process biometric information within a matter of seconds with increased accuracy,” he said.
Finally, voter registration can drive demand as well. “Governments worldwide are conceiving new ways to ensure and enhance voter integrity. Biometrics is the best technology by far for identifying and authenticating voters and citizens swiftly and reliably based on that individual’s physical characteristics,” Ang said. “For voter authentication, the fingerprints are compared against reference fingerprints stored on an identity document or in a fingerprint database, which enables the owner of the information to be accurately authenticated.”
As such, Gemalto offers their solutions to different sectors to suit users’ various needs. “So far, these solutions have been primarily implemented for law enforcement, civil management, and border management purposes,” Ang said. “But we understand that every agency has different needs and requirements when it comes to processing and using biometric information. Therefore, we work with different sectors to customize our biometrics solutions.”