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Cross Match snaps up Labcal; looks at iris
NEWS / APPLICATION NEWS company news
Contact: Pam Rembaum at Cross Match Technologies, Tel: +1 561 493 7383, Email: [email protected]
Cross Match snaps up Labcal; looks at iris
C
ross Match Technologies, a provider of biometric identity management solutions, has acquired the biometric authentication business of Labcal Technologies, a Canadian based provider of ruggedized mobile and wireless biometric solutions for identification and authentication. Cross Match also acquired Labcal’s SmartProfile single sign on (SSO) business in the transaction. Labcal’s handheld mobile computing platforms integrate biometrics (fingerprint via a UPEK sensor integrated into the device), smart card technologies, wireless communications and application software for mobile authentication of persons and documents such as National IDs, ePassports, benefits provision cards and various employee and worker IDs. Specifically, Labcal Be.U Mobile device was engineered to meet US Department of Defense (DoD) military specifications for harsh environmental conditions, known as MIL-STD-810F, as well as the IP65 Ingress Protection rating. It is currently deployed in numerous civil and military identification programs around the world and meets a multitude of international smart card standards, including ICAO standards for contactless reading and authentication, and can be deployed in border control applications to authenticate e-Passports. Tom Buss, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Cross Match told Btt: “We have our own rugged optical-based fingerprint devices, but this acquisition has given us a one-year jump. It has accelerated our capabilities and brought with it a host of new business relationships.” Buss commented that Cross Match is very much an advocate of the multi-biometric approach, and said that face and iris are obviously missing from the Labcal device. (As an interesting side note, Buss told Btt that: “We need all biometrics in our quiver. We have designed iris capture devices as part of our military jump kits. But we are currently working hard with Dr James Cambier [previously of L-1 Technologies among other iris-based companies] to develop an iris image matching algorithm, which approaches iris recognition in a completely different way to current market offerings. This is now at a customer evaluation Beta stage.) Cross Match will integrate Labcal’s Canadian operations (which comprise less than 20 employees) into its global organization and will be known as Cross Match Canada. Additional terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
March 2008
APPLICATION NEWS
fingerprint
Sagem Morpho tops Match-On-Card test
T
he Information Access Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the results of the Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test (MINEX) II Performance of Fingerprint Match-On-Card (MOC) Algorithms. Sagem Morpho’s MOC performance was reported by NIST to be the “most accurate Match-On-Card implementation” and was the only one to meet the standards for use in federal programs such as the US Government’s PIV and TWIC programs. A selection of the report’s significant findings includes: •
•
•
•
The most accurate Match-on-Card implementation achieved the minimum error rate specifications specified by the United States’ Government’s PIV program. The most accurate implementation completed a verification within an average of 0.54 seconds (i.e. median) – 99% of verification results were returned with 0.86 seconds. False non-match errors, at the industry preferred false match rate of 0.0001, are from two to four times more frequent than at FMR = 0.01. As in MINEX 04, the use of two fingers greatly improves accuracy.
Sagem’s MOC algorithms were more than twice as accurate as the other submissions. Meanwhile, regardless of which of the 19 approved manufacturers created the reference template, the Sagem MOC matcher was able to successfully perform the match with a 1% or less error rate. The MINEX II evaluation will now continue in 2008 as Phase III. This will be an ongoing program to gauge improvements over existing implementations, and to evaluate others. NIST said it has invited comment on whether Phase III should include evaluation of proprietary templates, or extensions to ISO/IEC 7816 templates. (MINEX 04 showed that Match-Off-Card algorithms were substantially more accurate with proprietary vs. standard templates. Whether this holds for Match-On-Card has not been reported.) The full report is available at http://fingerprint.nist.gov/minexII/minex_report.pdf.
• On Track Innovations (OTI) has announced that it will supply its end-to-end ePassport and border control system to an unnamed European country. The supplier has received initial orders to supply its end-to-end system, based on the company’s MAGNA platform, to the country’s passport issuing National Centre and border control stations following a successful pilot. The system includes eStickers, enrolment and personalization infrastructure and a border control system for ePassports. Deliveries are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2008. Total orders are expected to reach several millions of dollars over the next few years. • In order to improve identification accuracy in the field, Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is to deploy Datastrip’s DSV2+TURBO device. The handheld biometric terminal has a fingerprint scanner and card reader, and it can take photos on the scene. FCPD purchased 50 DSV2+TURBO units as part of a US$14 million grant from the Office of Homeland Security. It has since ordered an additional 30 terminals. The units were loaded with custom software to interface with FCPD’s Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and to perform facial recognition against its Viisage softwareenabled mug shot database. • A Welsh nursery has installed fingerprint scanning to increase the safety of the children in its care. The biometric security system at the Mes Enfants nursery in Swansea is thought to be the first in Wales to employ hi-tech fingerprint scanning. The technology has been introduced to reassure parents in the light of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and allows only authorised parents and staff access to the building. The system was installed by UK Biometrics. • The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has said that the proposals to set up an automated EU border management system (see p1) must be rigorous in data protection safeguards. The effect of breaches of data protection law under the new system would not only affect individuals concerned but could have the overall counterproductive effect of eroding trust in EU institutions, warned the EDPS. The EDPS expressed concern that heavy reliance on biometric data presents inherent weaknesses in terms of accessibility and accuracy and will need to be properly addressed.
Biometric Technology Today
3
Contact: Pam Rembaum at Cross Match Technologies, Tel: +1 561 493 7383, Email: [email protected]
Cross Match snaps up Labcal; looks at iris
C
ross Match Technologies, a provider of biometric identity management solutions, has acquired the biometric authentication business of Labcal Technologies, a Canadian based provider of ruggedized mobile and wireless biometric solutions for identification and authentication. Cross Match also acquired Labcal’s SmartProfile single sign on (SSO) business in the transaction. Labcal’s handheld mobile computing platforms integrate biometrics (fingerprint via a UPEK sensor integrated into the device), smart card technologies, wireless communications and application software for mobile authentication of persons and documents such as National IDs, ePassports, benefits provision cards and various employee and worker IDs. Specifically, Labcal Be.U Mobile device was engineered to meet US Department of Defense (DoD) military specifications for harsh environmental conditions, known as MIL-STD-810F, as well as the IP65 Ingress Protection rating. It is currently deployed in numerous civil and military identification programs around the world and meets a multitude of international smart card standards, including ICAO standards for contactless reading and authentication, and can be deployed in border control applications to authenticate e-Passports. Tom Buss, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Cross Match told Btt: “We have our own rugged optical-based fingerprint devices, but this acquisition has given us a one-year jump. It has accelerated our capabilities and brought with it a host of new business relationships.” Buss commented that Cross Match is very much an advocate of the multi-biometric approach, and said that face and iris are obviously missing from the Labcal device. (As an interesting side note, Buss told Btt that: “We need all biometrics in our quiver. We have designed iris capture devices as part of our military jump kits. But we are currently working hard with Dr James Cambier [previously of L-1 Technologies among other iris-based companies] to develop an iris image matching algorithm, which approaches iris recognition in a completely different way to current market offerings. This is now at a customer evaluation Beta stage.) Cross Match will integrate Labcal’s Canadian operations (which comprise less than 20 employees) into its global organization and will be known as Cross Match Canada. Additional terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
March 2008
APPLICATION NEWS
fingerprint
Sagem Morpho tops Match-On-Card test
T
he Information Access Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the results of the Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test (MINEX) II Performance of Fingerprint Match-On-Card (MOC) Algorithms. Sagem Morpho’s MOC performance was reported by NIST to be the “most accurate Match-On-Card implementation” and was the only one to meet the standards for use in federal programs such as the US Government’s PIV and TWIC programs. A selection of the report’s significant findings includes: •
•
•
•
The most accurate Match-on-Card implementation achieved the minimum error rate specifications specified by the United States’ Government’s PIV program. The most accurate implementation completed a verification within an average of 0.54 seconds (i.e. median) – 99% of verification results were returned with 0.86 seconds. False non-match errors, at the industry preferred false match rate of 0.0001, are from two to four times more frequent than at FMR = 0.01. As in MINEX 04, the use of two fingers greatly improves accuracy.
Sagem’s MOC algorithms were more than twice as accurate as the other submissions. Meanwhile, regardless of which of the 19 approved manufacturers created the reference template, the Sagem MOC matcher was able to successfully perform the match with a 1% or less error rate. The MINEX II evaluation will now continue in 2008 as Phase III. This will be an ongoing program to gauge improvements over existing implementations, and to evaluate others. NIST said it has invited comment on whether Phase III should include evaluation of proprietary templates, or extensions to ISO/IEC 7816 templates. (MINEX 04 showed that Match-Off-Card algorithms were substantially more accurate with proprietary vs. standard templates. Whether this holds for Match-On-Card has not been reported.) The full report is available at http://fingerprint.nist.gov/minexII/minex_report.pdf.
• On Track Innovations (OTI) has announced that it will supply its end-to-end ePassport and border control system to an unnamed European country. The supplier has received initial orders to supply its end-to-end system, based on the company’s MAGNA platform, to the country’s passport issuing National Centre and border control stations following a successful pilot. The system includes eStickers, enrolment and personalization infrastructure and a border control system for ePassports. Deliveries are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2008. Total orders are expected to reach several millions of dollars over the next few years. • In order to improve identification accuracy in the field, Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is to deploy Datastrip’s DSV2+TURBO device. The handheld biometric terminal has a fingerprint scanner and card reader, and it can take photos on the scene. FCPD purchased 50 DSV2+TURBO units as part of a US$14 million grant from the Office of Homeland Security. It has since ordered an additional 30 terminals. The units were loaded with custom software to interface with FCPD’s Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and to perform facial recognition against its Viisage softwareenabled mug shot database. • A Welsh nursery has installed fingerprint scanning to increase the safety of the children in its care. The biometric security system at the Mes Enfants nursery in Swansea is thought to be the first in Wales to employ hi-tech fingerprint scanning. The technology has been introduced to reassure parents in the light of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and allows only authorised parents and staff access to the building. The system was installed by UK Biometrics. • The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has said that the proposals to set up an automated EU border management system (see p1) must be rigorous in data protection safeguards. The effect of breaches of data protection law under the new system would not only affect individuals concerned but could have the overall counterproductive effect of eroding trust in EU institutions, warned the EDPS. The EDPS expressed concern that heavy reliance on biometric data presents inherent weaknesses in terms of accessibility and accuracy and will need to be properly addressed.
Biometric Technology Today
3