- Email: [email protected]
ekey unlocks investor potential
btt jan 03.qxd
23/01/2003
16:36
Page 2
NEWS
Copyright Notice This newsletter and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Science Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; tel: +44 (0)1865 843830, fax: +44 (0)1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@ elsevier.com. You may also contact Rights & Permissions directly through Elsevier’s home page (http://www.elsevier.nl), selecting first ‘Customer Support’, then ‘General Information’, then ‘Permissions Query Form’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; tel: 978 7508400, fax: +1 978 7504744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; tel: +44 (0) 171 436 5931; fax: +44 (0)171 436 3986. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Contact the publisher at the address indicated. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, at the mail, fax and e-mail addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
02265 Printed by Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd.
2
Corporate
ekey unlocks investor potential Recent news coverage in Btt reported that Austrian biometric company ekey biometric systems was facing imminent closure without new backing from outside investors. At the last hour, a mystery investor has been found and ekey is now back in business – albeit in a severely streamlined format. The new company, ekey biometric systems GmbH & Co KG, purchased the technical expertise of the original company and has 75% fewer staff than the original business. This has enabled the company, which had been funded by its parent company Voest Alpine, to massively curtail its expenditure requirements. ekey’s Signot Keldorfer told Btt: “We have also expanded our product portfolio because one of the biggest mistakes of the old e-key company was that our offering was too narrow.” The company will now be marketing four different solutions using fingerprint technology on open platforms. “We will make our own mouse and use our own algorithms, and will use thermal, optical or capacitive sensors according to client need,” reported Keldorfer. The company’s new products include: •
•
•
•
TOCAworldwide – this follows the business model of the original e-key company to biometrically authenticate users via the internet; TOCAbusiness – proprietary system designed for banks, insurance companies and other businesses to carry out biometric authorization without TOCAworldwide; TOCAlogon – biometric logon for Microsoft Windows. This will be expanded to include logon for Linux or Unix in the future the company claims; and TOCAaccess – physical access control product marketed to sellers of access control devices.
Contact: Signot Keldorfer at ekey, Tel: +43 70 6910 9185, Fax: +43 70 6980 3562, email: [email protected]
Immigration
German border gives biometrics the nod Police in Bavaria have extended a scheme aimed at securing the border crossing between Waidhous, Germany and the Czech Republic, following a successful three-month pilot of face
recognition technology. The scheme uses ZN Vision Technologies’ face recognition technology, which is integrated into passport readers already in use by German police The pilot, which will continue indefinitely, provides practical insights into the performance of biometric technologies when supporting border control officers during document and identity checks. “After the pilot has been completed, the police will examine issues of how face recognition can assist border guards in making decisions about the identity of people,” Ralf Biesemeier, marketing manager, ZN told Btt. “Currently, they are just using the face recognition machine when they have an initial doubt about the identity of a traveller, so essentially this is a second level of security/decision making.” The system consists of a passport reader incorporating ZN’s face recognition technology in cooperation with fellow German company SFO. Travellers’ identities are verified by scanning the passport photograph and comparing it to a simultaneously-taken live image of the passport holder. The authenticity of the original document is then verified by reading its security features. The police decision to extend this pilot follows the abandonment of a similar scheme at Nuremberg airport using another company’s technology, the supplier reported. Contact: Ralf Biesemeier at ZN Vision Technologies, Tel: +49 234 9787 25, Fax: +49 234 9787 77, email: [email protected]
Education
Biometrics fit into schools A US-wide National Scholastic Fitness Program has boosted the market for the use of biometrics in the fitness and education sectors. As part of the programme, ALPHA CIT and the National School Fitness Foundation (NSFF) plan to install their Commercial Fitness Management Kiosks at every US school. The rollout is designed to promote fitness and healthy lifestyles to high school students, who may opt to access their kiosk records with fingerprint technology from Bioscrypt. According to Christopher Crump, director of sales engineering at Bioscrypt: “The NSFF’s L.I.F.T (Leadership In Fitness Training) programme is currently signing up 30 new schools per month, although this is expected to increase to 90 schools per month over the next five years.” The company also estimates that each school will adopt between one and six of the kiosks, which have been designed to measure aspects of student’s health and body composition.
Biometric Technology Today • January 2003
23/01/2003
16:36
Page 2
NEWS
Copyright Notice This newsletter and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Science Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; tel: +44 (0)1865 843830, fax: +44 (0)1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@ elsevier.com. You may also contact Rights & Permissions directly through Elsevier’s home page (http://www.elsevier.nl), selecting first ‘Customer Support’, then ‘General Information’, then ‘Permissions Query Form’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; tel: 978 7508400, fax: +1 978 7504744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; tel: +44 (0) 171 436 5931; fax: +44 (0)171 436 3986. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Contact the publisher at the address indicated. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Science Rights & Permissions Department, at the mail, fax and e-mail addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
02265 Printed by Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd.
2
Corporate
ekey unlocks investor potential Recent news coverage in Btt reported that Austrian biometric company ekey biometric systems was facing imminent closure without new backing from outside investors. At the last hour, a mystery investor has been found and ekey is now back in business – albeit in a severely streamlined format. The new company, ekey biometric systems GmbH & Co KG, purchased the technical expertise of the original company and has 75% fewer staff than the original business. This has enabled the company, which had been funded by its parent company Voest Alpine, to massively curtail its expenditure requirements. ekey’s Signot Keldorfer told Btt: “We have also expanded our product portfolio because one of the biggest mistakes of the old e-key company was that our offering was too narrow.” The company will now be marketing four different solutions using fingerprint technology on open platforms. “We will make our own mouse and use our own algorithms, and will use thermal, optical or capacitive sensors according to client need,” reported Keldorfer. The company’s new products include: •
•
•
•
TOCAworldwide – this follows the business model of the original e-key company to biometrically authenticate users via the internet; TOCAbusiness – proprietary system designed for banks, insurance companies and other businesses to carry out biometric authorization without TOCAworldwide; TOCAlogon – biometric logon for Microsoft Windows. This will be expanded to include logon for Linux or Unix in the future the company claims; and TOCAaccess – physical access control product marketed to sellers of access control devices.
Contact: Signot Keldorfer at ekey, Tel: +43 70 6910 9185, Fax: +43 70 6980 3562, email: [email protected]
Immigration
German border gives biometrics the nod Police in Bavaria have extended a scheme aimed at securing the border crossing between Waidhous, Germany and the Czech Republic, following a successful three-month pilot of face
recognition technology. The scheme uses ZN Vision Technologies’ face recognition technology, which is integrated into passport readers already in use by German police The pilot, which will continue indefinitely, provides practical insights into the performance of biometric technologies when supporting border control officers during document and identity checks. “After the pilot has been completed, the police will examine issues of how face recognition can assist border guards in making decisions about the identity of people,” Ralf Biesemeier, marketing manager, ZN told Btt. “Currently, they are just using the face recognition machine when they have an initial doubt about the identity of a traveller, so essentially this is a second level of security/decision making.” The system consists of a passport reader incorporating ZN’s face recognition technology in cooperation with fellow German company SFO. Travellers’ identities are verified by scanning the passport photograph and comparing it to a simultaneously-taken live image of the passport holder. The authenticity of the original document is then verified by reading its security features. The police decision to extend this pilot follows the abandonment of a similar scheme at Nuremberg airport using another company’s technology, the supplier reported. Contact: Ralf Biesemeier at ZN Vision Technologies, Tel: +49 234 9787 25, Fax: +49 234 9787 77, email: [email protected]
Education
Biometrics fit into schools A US-wide National Scholastic Fitness Program has boosted the market for the use of biometrics in the fitness and education sectors. As part of the programme, ALPHA CIT and the National School Fitness Foundation (NSFF) plan to install their Commercial Fitness Management Kiosks at every US school. The rollout is designed to promote fitness and healthy lifestyles to high school students, who may opt to access their kiosk records with fingerprint technology from Bioscrypt. According to Christopher Crump, director of sales engineering at Bioscrypt: “The NSFF’s L.I.F.T (Leadership In Fitness Training) programme is currently signing up 30 new schools per month, although this is expected to increase to 90 schools per month over the next five years.” The company also estimates that each school will adopt between one and six of the kiosks, which have been designed to measure aspects of student’s health and body composition.
Biometric Technology Today • January 2003