- Email: [email protected]
Lockheed and IriTech see eye-to-eye
NEWS / COMMENT ...continued from page 5 “This program demonstrates SAIC’s commitment to working with academia and the government to bring science to solutions quickly,” said John Christensen, SAIC business development. “With this agreement, we’re reaching back to our scientific roots to help mentor the next generation of scientist in the UK.” As part of the sponsorship program, the team will establish the ‘SAIC University Challenge’, a contest designed to encourage bold and innovative biometric ideas. During the contest, teams from UKBI universities will develop product ideas, form virtual companies and compete against each other for an award. The aim of the challenge is to encourage university students to work with industry to adopt innovative and creative solutions, solve complex problems, think strategically and use project management skills. According to Carole Barron, director of Enterprise at the University of Kent: “It will help position these students to pursue careers in the biometrics and leverage their abilities to help solve some of the world’s most complex problems.”
iris
Lockheed and IriTech see eye-to-eye
A
cooperation agreement has been signed between systems integrator Lockheed Martin and iris recognition company IriTech to provide integrated biometrics solutions for a variety of customers. Lockheed Martin, a biometrics solution provider, recently opened its Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON) facility to serve as a collaborative centre to develop integrated biometrics solutions. BEACON provides a laboratory environment where technologies such as IriTech’s can be integrated into an end-to-end service-oriented architecture. The company expects this latest collaboration with IriTech to foster innovation, openness and diversity in the biometrics marketplace. “As a systems integrator, we’re committed to finding and furthering promising new technologies,” said Bob Eastman, Lockheed Martin vice president, Information Systems. “It’s one of the many ways we are working to support and foster an open, innovative technology landscape in biometrics.” 12
Biometric Technology Today
iris
Iris recognition option for car occupants
S
arnoff Corporation – one of the companies best known for developing iris-on-the move (IOM) technology – has announced an adaptation of its system for use with motor vehicles. The company’s latest system allows a person’s iris image to be captured whilst inside of a vehicle. The vehicle drive-through system builds on IOM’s ability to identify stationary subjects, as well as those in motion. The system’s pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) mechanism is claimed to allow iris image capture for people inside of vehicles at various heights. The system works outdoors under varied lighting conditions and is easily adaptable for a variety of uses, such as creating a convenient and more secure checkpoint area, Sarnoff said in a statement. “The Iris on the Move Vehicle Pass-through System provides an added measure of security for high-traffic areas requiring accurate identification,”
said a company spokeman. “Whether drivers are entering corporate campuses or government sites, the vehicle drive-through system is a reliable and accurate and convenient way to ensure the right people gain access to secure areas.” Key features of IOM’s vehicle drive-through system include: •
•
•
high throughput – the system is easy to use and eliminates the need for drivers to get out of the car or for security guards to approach vehicles with an authentication device. This streamlined operation expedites the authentication process. flexibility of design – Sarnoff’s Iris on the Move uses a modular design concept that makes it easy to customise a system for specific needs and accriesessibility requirements. platform agnostic – The Sarnoff system is interoperable and has been integrated with multiple iris recognition algorithms and platforms, providing seamless integration to meet a wide variety of security and environmental needs.
Contact: Lou Ann Wingerter at Sarnoff Corporation, Tel: +1 609 734 2863, Email: [email protected]
COMMENT This month’s issue of Btt is full of news looking at the roll out of secure documents such as electronic passports and national ID cards, notably the UK’s ambitious national ID card project, which will use multiple finger and face biometrics. It is certainly a landmark that Germany has begun rolling out the far more complex Extended Access Control (EAC) fingerprintbased ePassport, and the country is trailblazing with its project, especially bearing in mind that this second generation product does not officially have to be launched until 28 June 2009, according to EC regulations. Germany is certainly not the first country to put fingerprints within its passport, but it is the first to deploy an EAC-standard product, which replaces the far simpler Basic Access Control (BAC) ePassport, which was susceptible to scare stories, such as cloning and the like. (I am assured that cloning is not possible on an EAC passport, where the encrption key is not effectively printed inside the owner’s passport.) The UK and other EU countries will eventually use the same EAC specification – and interestingly, so could other countries outside of the EU, such as South Korea.
Electronic passports and future national identity card projects are inevitably entwined. At the highly successful Biometrics 2007 event in London recently, delegates saw how countries such as Sweden are looking at enrolling biometrics for multiple projects, including ePassports for citizens and resident aliens, visas, residence permits etc. Using the same equipment to capture biometrics for multiple projects clearly makes a lot of sense. In the UK, the latest costings report demonstrates just how entwined the ePassport and national ID card project have become. Nearly £3 billion of the total ten-year costs support both passports and ID cards; £1.5 billion is specifically for passports and £1 billion is specifically for ID cards. Some critics say that the UK does not legally need to produce EAC passports, and is only going down this route to artificially reduce the apparent costs of introducing ID cards – by offloading some of the costs onto the ePassport side of the equation. While it may be true that some costs are now shared between the projects, it would be absurd to suggest this is the reason for taking this route. As well as being far more secure, the UK would be somewhat foolish to risk its secure document reputation by falling behind its European neighbours. Mark Lockie
November/December 2007
iris
Lockheed and IriTech see eye-to-eye
A
cooperation agreement has been signed between systems integrator Lockheed Martin and iris recognition company IriTech to provide integrated biometrics solutions for a variety of customers. Lockheed Martin, a biometrics solution provider, recently opened its Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts (BEACON) facility to serve as a collaborative centre to develop integrated biometrics solutions. BEACON provides a laboratory environment where technologies such as IriTech’s can be integrated into an end-to-end service-oriented architecture. The company expects this latest collaboration with IriTech to foster innovation, openness and diversity in the biometrics marketplace. “As a systems integrator, we’re committed to finding and furthering promising new technologies,” said Bob Eastman, Lockheed Martin vice president, Information Systems. “It’s one of the many ways we are working to support and foster an open, innovative technology landscape in biometrics.” 12
Biometric Technology Today
iris
Iris recognition option for car occupants
S
arnoff Corporation – one of the companies best known for developing iris-on-the move (IOM) technology – has announced an adaptation of its system for use with motor vehicles. The company’s latest system allows a person’s iris image to be captured whilst inside of a vehicle. The vehicle drive-through system builds on IOM’s ability to identify stationary subjects, as well as those in motion. The system’s pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) mechanism is claimed to allow iris image capture for people inside of vehicles at various heights. The system works outdoors under varied lighting conditions and is easily adaptable for a variety of uses, such as creating a convenient and more secure checkpoint area, Sarnoff said in a statement. “The Iris on the Move Vehicle Pass-through System provides an added measure of security for high-traffic areas requiring accurate identification,”
said a company spokeman. “Whether drivers are entering corporate campuses or government sites, the vehicle drive-through system is a reliable and accurate and convenient way to ensure the right people gain access to secure areas.” Key features of IOM’s vehicle drive-through system include: •
•
•
high throughput – the system is easy to use and eliminates the need for drivers to get out of the car or for security guards to approach vehicles with an authentication device. This streamlined operation expedites the authentication process. flexibility of design – Sarnoff’s Iris on the Move uses a modular design concept that makes it easy to customise a system for specific needs and accriesessibility requirements. platform agnostic – The Sarnoff system is interoperable and has been integrated with multiple iris recognition algorithms and platforms, providing seamless integration to meet a wide variety of security and environmental needs.
Contact: Lou Ann Wingerter at Sarnoff Corporation, Tel: +1 609 734 2863, Email: [email protected]
COMMENT This month’s issue of Btt is full of news looking at the roll out of secure documents such as electronic passports and national ID cards, notably the UK’s ambitious national ID card project, which will use multiple finger and face biometrics. It is certainly a landmark that Germany has begun rolling out the far more complex Extended Access Control (EAC) fingerprintbased ePassport, and the country is trailblazing with its project, especially bearing in mind that this second generation product does not officially have to be launched until 28 June 2009, according to EC regulations. Germany is certainly not the first country to put fingerprints within its passport, but it is the first to deploy an EAC-standard product, which replaces the far simpler Basic Access Control (BAC) ePassport, which was susceptible to scare stories, such as cloning and the like. (I am assured that cloning is not possible on an EAC passport, where the encrption key is not effectively printed inside the owner’s passport.) The UK and other EU countries will eventually use the same EAC specification – and interestingly, so could other countries outside of the EU, such as South Korea.
Electronic passports and future national identity card projects are inevitably entwined. At the highly successful Biometrics 2007 event in London recently, delegates saw how countries such as Sweden are looking at enrolling biometrics for multiple projects, including ePassports for citizens and resident aliens, visas, residence permits etc. Using the same equipment to capture biometrics for multiple projects clearly makes a lot of sense. In the UK, the latest costings report demonstrates just how entwined the ePassport and national ID card project have become. Nearly £3 billion of the total ten-year costs support both passports and ID cards; £1.5 billion is specifically for passports and £1 billion is specifically for ID cards. Some critics say that the UK does not legally need to produce EAC passports, and is only going down this route to artificially reduce the apparent costs of introducing ID cards – by offloading some of the costs onto the ePassport side of the equation. While it may be true that some costs are now shared between the projects, it would be absurd to suggest this is the reason for taking this route. As well as being far more secure, the UK would be somewhat foolish to risk its secure document reputation by falling behind its European neighbours. Mark Lockie
November/December 2007