Archive for the 'General' Category

Hitachi, Ltd. today announced that it will begin the sale of its compact and contact less Finger Vein biometric authentication device and SDK. Full-scale availability and sales begin July in Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania and others. Hitachi developed the product based on the original model designed for the Japanese market and sold in Japan since October 2006. PC users can now guard against illegitimate access or leakage of information on their computers by using the vein patterns in their finger as the key to manage their computer login process. The finger vein unit has achieved its small size, high accuracy rate and low cost by employing a single-chip LSI design with this device.In addition, an SDK is available to allow for development of custom applications or integration into existing application environments.

Following several years of research and development of the finger vein pattern recognition technology at the Hitachi, Ltd., Central Research Institute in 1997, the company received a substantial number of patents. Because of the unique and “non-traceable” nature of the biometric technology, counterfeiting is not possible. Given the progress of today’s ubiquitous information society, the need for practical and accurate biometric solutions is growing at a fast pace. Finger vein pattern recognition meets effectively these demanding requirements and allows for the efficient deployment of biometric authentication devices for a variety of applications. Hitachi has now commercialized the operating system and various applications including PC login devices and validation devices for ATMs for various fields in Japan. The validation device for ATMs is fast becoming a de facto standard, with about 80 percent of the financial institutions in Japan adopting finger vein biometrics as of the end of March in 2007 (Based upon our independent ATM market analysis within Banking sector).

As adoption levels of finger vein pattern recognition increase in Japan, the level of interest in the overseas market is also increasing. To date, Hitachi is seeing sales increases of the device in Southeast Asia, including Singapore. In addition, growth potential is expected in the United States and Europe, particularly for access control and related applications. Hitachi recently installed a system at the Shinkin Central Bank, New York branch.

Hitachi increasingly is focusing its businesses on creating solutions to answer various market trends aiming at the achievement of a safe, comfortable, ubiquitous information society, exemplified by making finger vein technology the de facto standard for high-security biometrics.

The Australian government is moving towards greater use of biometrics to prevent identity theft which costs A$1.1 billion (C$906 million) annually, the federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock said today.

Addressing the Biometrics Institute’s annual conference in Sydney, Ruddock said the Council of Australian Governments has agreed to investigate how biometric security measures could be adopted by all the state’s and territories.

This is part of the National Identity Security Strategy which aims to strengthen existing identity processes and to make sure procedures are consistent across the country.

It supports the establishment of a national A$28.3 million Document Verification Service announced in the recent federal budget. “We need to beat criminals at their own game and biometric identification can help us do this,” Ruddock said.

And while everyone has a right to privacy, Ruddock said, “There can be no greater invasion of a person’s privacy than the theft of their identity”. He said one challenge with biometric use is the lack of consistent standards.

Read more at InterGovWorld

Presently in its early growth stage, the North American electronic access control (EAC) market looks set for continued growth in the future. The possibility of multi-technology authentication greatly drives market growth, and with increased competition and reduced prices, this market will witness greater venture capital and equity interest. Moreover, with security concerns becoming top priority, the market is optimistic about a buoyant growth period and richer returns from the technological benefits of various segments.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (financialservices.frost.com), North American Electronic Access Control Markets – Investment Analysis and Growth Opportunities reveals that revenues in this market totaled $1.32 billion in 2006, and estimates this to reach $4.19 billion in 2010.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the North American Electronic Access Control Markets – Investment Analysis and Growth Opportunities, then send an email to Sara Villarruel - Corporate Communications at sara.villarruel[.]frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, email address, city, state, and country. We will send you the information via email upon receipt of the above information.

“The North American EAC market is increasingly driven by mandates and other standardization procedures undertaken across the different verticals,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Janani Sankaran. “Biometrics, in particular, is emerging as the fastest growing segment of the North American EAC market, benefiting tremendously from legislations such as the Aviation and Transport Security Act.”
(more…)

Innovative voice biometrics start-up CellMax Systems, Ltd. of Tel Aviv and Multitek Corp., S.A. of Panama City, a major provider of intelligent solutions in Central America, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a five-year distribution agreement to supply CellMax Systems’ identification and verification technology to the region’s rapidly growing call center sector. No value was disclosed.

CellMax Systems specializes in highly accurate identification and verification of the human voice for access control. The company’s product suite includes a range of ID management and security applications for the telecom, financial and security markets with unprecedented rates of accuracy* and tailored to individual client needs.

In targeting the call center market, the partners intend to provide improved secure voice-based e-commerce transactions over telecommunications networks. In over-network transactions, voice has shown to be the least invasive, most readily available and the only technology that can be applied over phone lines. CellMax Systems’ technology enables higher levels of identification and verification, but keeps costs low by increasing process automation, raising quality of service and reducing wait time to provide a rapid return on investment (ROI).

Multitek will serve as both local integrator and regional distributor for CellMax Systems’ technology for call/contact centers, with exclusive license in the Panamanian market, and non-exclusive activity in the neighboring markets of Costa Rica and Colombia. Multitek is the official local partner to Cisco, Polaroid, HP, Hyundai, Linux, Olympus, Sharp among others, providing technology to Panama’s burgeoning contact center industry, as well as financial institutions and security agencies.

Eran Singer, VP Sales of CellMax Systems, Ltd., today said, “Multitek is a major force in intelligent solutions provision, telephony, Internet and retail in Latin America and we are honored to join forces with them. Additionally, their active involvement in the Panama Canal Free Zone empowers our partnership with the potential to access regional markets easily.”

Daniel Bettsak, Director General of Multitek Corp., stated, “Adding CellMax Systems’ voice biometrics solution to our range of intelligent solutions means added value to our customers, raising their levels of security and controlling access to sensitive customer data at the most reasonable cost. We’re looking forward to making this solution commonplace in the Latin American contact center space – the fastest growing in the world, serving both the Spanish and English language commercial and financial markets – as well as the security agencies that protect the Panama Canal region.”

Acuity Market Intelligence of Louisville, Colorado, an emerging technology strategy and research consultancy with a proven record of accurately anticipating biometrics market trends, today announced the availability “The Future of Biometrics”. This groundbreaking research reveals that over the next 10 to 15 years the infrastructure to enable mainstream, ubiquitous biometric authentication will be developed. By 2020, Biometrics will be a key enabler of trusted transaction control for data access and flow for consumer, commercial, and government applications.”The Future of Biometrics” presents Acuity’s trademark brand of concise, strategic, hype-free insight into the trends, drivers, and opportunities that will shape the biometrics industry through 2020 and provides detailed market forecasts through 2015.

Key Forecasts:

• Commercial deployment revenues will begin to supersede Public Sector revenues in 2012 and will represent more than 52% of the total global market for biometrics core technology by 2015.
• Overall market dominance will shift from Europe (and the greater EMEA region) and the US (and the greater North America region) to Asia (and the greater Asia Pacific region). By 2014, the Asia Pacific Region will generate the greatest revenues for the biometrics industry.
• Transactions will ultimately provide the majority of industry revenue. Information and financial transactions for Commercial applications by 2012 and eGoverment for Public Sector applications by 2015.

(more…)