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Archive for May, 2007

UK airports are all biometric

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

Iris-based biometric technology has been rolled out to the last airport in the UK government’s program to tighten immigration security.

The Iris Recognition Immigration System (Iris) at Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal lets registered passengers enter the UK without queuing to see an immigration officer at passport control.

Air travellers enrolled in the scheme can walk up to an automated barrier, look into a camera and, if the system recognises them, enter the UK.

The biometric technology works by photographing and storing a passenger’s iris patterns in a database, along with their passport details and immigration status in the UK.

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CellMax Systems hits Panamanian call center

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

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.”

Ubiquitous Biometrics a Key Enabler of Trusted Transactions by 2020

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

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.

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