Future Places Where Biometric Technology Could Be Used More Often

John TraderJune 20, 2011Leave a Reply

Where may we see biometrics used in the future? In case you had not noticed, biometric identification technology is on the rise. So much so in fact that more and more businesses, governments and individuals are choosing to deploy biometrics over other traditional identification technologies like personal identification numbers (PIN’s), barcode/magstripe cards and RFID technology. Biometric technology is one of the fastest emerging markets across the globe due to increased applicability of the technology for civil and commercial applications and the rise in the need to increase personal security. Recently, a report suggested that biometric technology is forecasted to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23% from 2011 – 2013. That’s impressive.

This post is not meant to discuss the growth potential of biometric technology however. Instead, we wondered what the biometric landscape of the future may look like if deployments become more widespread into common applications that affect our everyday lives. Here are some places where we you may see biometric identification being used more often in the not too distant future:

Libraries – Already prevalent in UK school libraries, biometric identification at libraries could soon be a widespread reality here in the U.S. The practicality of this deployment is reflected in shrinking budgets as library systems across the country figure out ways to slash costs and improve services. Biometric identification is a good fit since it virtually eliminates printing and maintaining library cards which is a large expense in the overall budget.
Customer Reward/Membership Programs – Think for a moment about the number of plastic customer reward cards that you carry in your wallet or on your key chain. There’s the grocery store, pharmacy, retail, fitness club, gas station, car rental agencies, financial services, insurance and many others. Now think for a moment the possibility of eliminating those plastic cards by substituting biometric identification instead. Think about the amount of money that can be saved by not having to print and maintain these plastic customer reward/membership cards and the impact on the environment. Membership oriented facilities have already began the transformation away from plastic cards and more towards biometric identification.
Visitor identification – How many times have you walked into a building as a visitor and had to stop to fill out your name and information and show picture ID before being granted admittance? Considering that anyone can scribble false information on a form and flash a fake photo ID, does this leave you feeling safe and secure? Switching to biometric identification at visitor points of entry changes the dynamic completely by eliminating the ability for someone to fake their identity and provides a more concrete audit trail should a problem arise prompting a review of visitor history. There are even some visitor management software Integrators who have already started deploying biometric identification technology with their end users.
Point of Sale – Going out on a limb here, but our guess is that as biometric technology becomes more accepted throughout society, we may see it introduced again to the retail point of sale environment as a means to pay for transactions. After a recent failed attempt at widespread adoption of biometric technology to process merchant transactions the technology landscape has changed and a stepped up effort to educate consumers on the science of the technology to combat privacy concerns may be effective enough to introduce it again for mainstream use. Considering the black mark that the last failed attempt to incorporate the technology had on the reputation of biometrics, we would venture to say that of all predictions, this one is the least likely to happen anytime soon but still plausible. We do know that biometrics is making a comeback in retail for other applications and if this success continues, we could soon see it again for point of sale transactions.

What everyday applications that require a mode of identification do you see biometrics being used for in the future? Any unusual ones? Please share your feedback in the comments section below.

Biometric Modalities: What makes a “Good Biometric?”

John TraderJune 15, 2011Leave a Reply

Ears

The following is a guest post from Jason Hodge, Vice President of Business Development for SecurLinx. SecurLinx specializes in networked biometric deployments and multi-modal biometric integration. You can read more about biometric technology on the SecurLinx blog which can be found at http://securlinx.blogspot.com/

Iris, Retina, Face, Fingerprint, Finger vein, Palm geometry, Palm vein, gait, ear, DNA, body odor, voice, typing rhythm, signature recognition. The range of human physical traits and behaviors offers fertile ground for scientists interested in quantifying them for use in identifying individuals.

Two main forces have influenced the selection of biometric identification modality from the near limitless choices: Convenience and Necessity.

Face and fingerprint have been by far the most convenient from both scientific and deployment perspectives.

Scientists need data to develop the algorithms that biometric systems use to identify individuals. For face and finger, data was never a problem. Bureaucracies have been collecting both for a century.

In deployment, it’s easy and convenient for participating individuals to interact with the technology.

Necessity, playing its usual role, has driven the development of other biometric modalities. From a development perspective, given enough data, time and money, I suspect any definable aspect of the human anatomy could be used as a biometric identifier.

In instances where teeth are all that is known about an individual, they are used for high confidence identification.

As long as the telephone is with us as a ubiquitous communication tool, there will be significant demand for voice recognition no matter the challenges.

In order to displace finger/hand and face/eye biometrics in wide scale deployments, the newer biometric modalities will have to out-compete them on two levels, in the lab and in the market. But in order to thrive as high value-added tools in highly specialized deployments they just need to help solve a high value problem.

Any biometric modality can be useful, especially if it’s the only one available.

Jason can be reached at Mail: blog@securlinx.com Twitter: @SecurLinx URL: www.securlinx.com

The Top 5 Reasons To Consider Fujitsu PalmSecure Biometric Technology Over Fingerprint

John TraderJune 10, 20112 Replies

Ok, so you readily admit you are a biometric novice. You know that biometric identification is growing in prominence, offers many unique features and characteristics not available with other technologies like barcoding and personal identification numbers (PINs) and is an affordable option. However, what isn’t so clear is the difference between biometric readers in addition to the when, where and why of their use. Let’s try and shed some light on that by comparing fingerprint to palm vein biometric readers.

Fingerprint biometrics is the most widely used modality in the industry hands down. Well over half of all the biometric deployments across the globe are for fingerprint technology and it works very well in most situations. Despite this, fingerprint biometrics is not normally viewed within the industry as a “one-size-fits-all” solution. There are some subtle variables to recognize and keep in mind if shopping for a biometric system and considering fingerprint as your choice of reader. Variables that may not be obvious at first but could very well cause you to choose palm vein biometrics instead as the optimal hardware for your deployment.

You may not have considered these top 5 reasons to evauluate palm vein biometrics over fingerprint, but we assure you that they are important reasons to consider and deserve careful review before moving forward:

Reason #1 – Your workforce tends to have unfavorable skin integrity.

Many people work in industries that require the use of tools, chemicals and machines. Industries that are heavily dependent on the hands of their workers which may compromise skin integrity. Cuts, scrapes, scars, bruises, dryness, roughness, moisture and other skin conditions can render an individual’s fingerprint unreadable which can cause difficulties when using a fingerprint reader. Consider using palm vein technology instead which does not rely on skin integrity but instead uses near infrared light to map the vein pattern beneath your palm and uses that as the template for your biometric identification.

Reason #2 – Hygiene is of particular concern to you and your staff.

Fingerprint readers require direct contact with the sensor to scan and identify an individual. Direct contact can lead to periodic reader cleansing especially in environments that see a high volume of use. Palm vein readers do not require direct contact with the sensor and a successful scan can be executed by simply hovering over the device. For those utilizing the hand guide, the device is easy to clean and keep sanitary without compromising the performance of the actual biometric sensor.

Reason #3 – Maximizing return on investment.

Because fingerprint readers require direct contact with the sensor (see #2) which accelerates wear and tear on the device, the longevity of the reader tends to be shorter. Since palm vein readers do not require direct contact with any sensor to capture biometric credentials, they tend to last longer helping you to achieve a higher return on your initial investment.

Reason #4 – The stigma associated with fingerprint readers.

M2-PV Palm Vein Reader

One of the most important aspects of deploying a biometric identification system is communicating to employees the safety and integrity of capturing and storing their biometric template data. There are those who consider the capture of their fingerprint visceral because of the stigma that an image being stored has the potential to be misused or stolen. Palm vein technology uses near infrared light to read vein patterns beneath the skin so the system is non-traceable – i.e. there is no latent footprint when a person enrolls and uses this type of system. Because vein patterns exist inside of the body, it is practically impossible to recreate someone’s biometric template.

Reason #5 – Palm vein technology is affordable.

For all of the distinct advantages that palm vein technology offers, it is an affordable alternative to fingerprint. You may think that switching to a biometric modality that uses near infrared light through a contactless sensor to map a vein pattern beneath the skin might be wildly more expensive than fingerprint but this is not the case. We have examples of customers who were originally using fingerprint and decided to switch to palm vein technology for one or more of the reasons listed above.

Contact us to learn more about how Fujitsu’s palm vein technology can work to your advantage if you are considering a biometric system or if you have a current system that uses fingerprint technology.

We’d like to hear from our palm vein users – how has using Fujitsu’s palm vein reader been an asset to your biometric system deployment? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Mizan Rahman Recognized as 2011 Technology Innovator by InfoWorld

John TraderJune 6, 2011Leave a Reply

Earlier last week, Mizan Rahman (M2SYS CEO/CTO) was recognized by InfoWorld as a 2011 Technology Leader for creating Hybrid Biometric Platform, a multi-modal biometrics system that supports fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein and iris recognition. Details of the award and information about why Mizan created Hybrid Biometric Platform can be found here:

http://bit.ly/mKG569

We are proud that Mizan was recognized as a Technology Innovator for creating Hybrid Biometric Platform, a true testament to the will, creativity and hard work that Mizan injected into the project and the biometric software engine that resulted. Mizan is honored and humbled by the recognition from InfoWorld and even more pleased that many of our customers are actually using Hybrid Biometrics and reaping the vision that Mizan had for this system.

Congratulations Mizan!

M2SYS Exhibiting At This Year’s American Payroll Association Congress Trade Show

John TraderMay 23, 2011Leave a Reply

If you plan on attending the 29th Annual American Payroll Association (APA) Congress this week in Salt Lake City, please stop by our Booth (#1019) to see firsthand how RightPunch PC-based biometric time clock identification technology can interface with your payroll software to help cut costs, increase efficiencies and boost productivity. We will be showcasing fingerprint, finger vein and palm vein biometric technology with demos and plenty of experts on hand to answer your questions.

With the ability to now seamlessly interface with Kronos, ADP, TimeForce (Qqest), Empower and Insperity workforce management platforms, RightPunch is an affordable PC-based biometric time clock that has the potential to save 2%-4% of gross payroll. Plus, it speeds up the check-in/check-out process to boost employee productivity and it is more safe and efficient than ID cards or personal identification numbers. RightPunch also eliminates employee time theft, reported to cost U.S. companies nearly $400 billion per year.

The hallmark themes of the APA Congress are “Competence, Compliance, Community” so what better time to educate yourself on biometric technology, which ensures compliance with labor tracking laws and offers so many benefits and a strong potential to maximize your return on investment.

Take a look at this video to learn more about one of our customers who recently implemented RightPunch biometric identification with their Kronos time and attendance software to replace paper time sheets and instantly saw a 90% efficiency increase: