The Biometric Daily

By the end of the last century I had the privilege to be involved in one of the first pilots for the new biometric passports. Although the technology wasn't as advanced as most biometric readers today, the technology was the least of the problem.
The biggest problem for the government was to solve the businesscase.
Let's face it; only once a year you go on holiday to a foreign country and maybe once a year you sign an official document. The investments are hugh, PKI, smartcards, complex enrollment procedures etc, how can this investment be justified? One of the conclusions of the pilot was that there simply wasn't enough "government" related traffic to justify the introduction of an electronic ID on short term.
The turnaround for biometric passports came after 9/11. Suddenly the interest for having a solid business case for biometrics was gone. It was all about security. Governments worldwide were pushed into a race to be the first in having an electronic passport. Germany won.
But now, having the electronic ID, governments start to think about making more money with the thing.
Wouldn't it be nice to access your company's network with your wireless electronic passport? The HR doesn't need to file a copy anymore. Big Brother just checks your identity and allows you to go to work. Science fiction? No, these sort of applications will be developed the next 5 years. But I question whether we should be happy with it.

Privaris, a biometric technology provider, raised $15.7 million in a first round of funding. The Privaris solution has some intriguing features like wireless connections, RFID, onboard enrollment system etc.
Let's take a closer look at the product and the opportunities along with their competitors.
First of all the Privaris BPID (what's in a name?) consist of a 66 MHz ARM7 RISC processor, 512 KB onboard mMemory flash available for template, credential, and application storage. A biometric sensor 250 dpi 0.384 in. x 0.384 in (Authentec) and is powered through one userreplaceable CR2 lithium cell. All in a sturdy casing with the possibility to attache it to your keyring.
It furthermore has 3 LEDs (red, yellow,green), 1 push button (power) and communicates through the RF options Low-frequency RFID, HID, Kantech and Indala compatible (100 KHz to 150 KHz), and Bluetooth™ (2.4 GHz).
With the device you can open doors (using the existing infrastructure HID or else) or access networks, open garagedoors etc.
All in all a neat thing to hang with your keys although the costs seems a bit high ($175).

I first met IFkey about two years ago. Like Privaris they developed a wireless biometric Key. The key difference is that IFkey unlike Privaris choose to develop a transmitter (key) and receiver (keyhole). They communicate through encrypted Bluetooth. Like a normal key you can lend your transmitter for a certain period to your neighbor or familymember. Another benefit above the Privaris BPID is that the Key is powered through rechargable batteries. They can be simply charged through the detachable USB cable. When connected to a PC the Key functions as a normal fingerprintreader. So a lot of benefits above the BPID, on the other hand it only communicates through a proprietary receiver. And... the pricing is slightly higher due to the costs of the receiver.

So... who is going to buy this technology? Clearly both products are targeted at consumers, although the BPID will do well in physical access in the B2B market.
The consumer market hasn't started yet so both companies still have to wait for the big bang. The trouble with both concepts is the multifunctionality. The BPID wins here too. They only focus on sending a biometric fingerprint authenticated signal, leaving the integration with various environments to the integrators they only offer a RF signal. With the IFKey you need to install receivers.
Both concepts have their pro's and contra's but they pave the biometric way to consumer and that's great.

Toshiba launched an all new security features packed notebook. The notebook is based on the Intel® Pentium® M Processor (up to 2.26GHz) and can be build to order.
The notebook features the Authentec Entrepad sensor for optimized security and user convenience. I had a chance to work with this sensor for a while and it performs extremely well. The image is very clear and is supported by the BioKey BSP so that you can easily deploy the notebook in a network with mixed fingerscanning devices.
The laptop is very attractively priced and the prices start at $1471.08

Lenovo takes biometric security very seriously. The, formerly known as IBM Thinkcentre, company launched a complete swipe sensor based product line to biometrically secure their Thinkpad notebooks and desktops.
The cheapest notebook with embedded biometric swipe sells for $1499. The stand alone hardware (keyboard and USB fingerprint reader) sell for $99 resp. $49. Lenovo throws in a security software bundle that enables you to logon biometrically and make use of the biometric password manager as well as the file encryption.

Sony is about to launch a new notebook with build in biometric security. The notebook has awesome specifications. Besides the biometric swipe sensor, located top right beside the power button, the notebook has a camera build in as well as the usual microphone. It gives me the opportunity to demo our biometric middleware without having to plug in all the devices separately.
The key specifications are;
- Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz)
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Rollup
- DVD+R Double Layer/DVD+-RW Drive
- 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive
- 17"5 WXGA XBRITE LCD Technology
- 160GB harddrive
- biometric swipe sensor
- 0.3 megapixel camera.

The note book has a MSRP of $2299.