This past week at findBIOMETRICS, we entered into week four of the Road to Biometrics UnPlugged. In the features section we took a look at biometric payments that don’t require smartphones while the industry news section was filled with reports of brain-trauma-detecting wearables, persistent heart rate authentication, big releases and exciting new partnerships.
BIO-key announced that it has partnered with Experian Public Sector. The partnership will see BIO-key’s fingerprint biometric technologies paired with Experian’s identity verification products. The aim is to expand access to identity proofing in transactions that require the highest level of authentication assurance.
Meanwhile, Suprema launched a fingerprint recognition software development kit (SDK) for the Android operating system. The SDK can enable mobile devices to capture prints in various non-ideal conditions including direct sunlight. Designed for use with the company’s BioMini Slim fingerprint scanner, Suprema’s new SDK supports a live preview feature during the verification process. The company has also launched an Android app in conjunction with the SDK that, among many other things, can provide users with a BioMini Slim demonstration.
This week we reported on a new release from Gartner that singles out passive biometric analysis as a feature that will start to become much more standard in the next three years. The 2014 Market Guide For Online Fraud Detection predicts that passive biometric analysis will become a standard feature of at least 30 percent of one-stop fraud detection solutions by 2017. This is a massive amount of growth considering that today that statistic is less than one percent.
On Tuesday, biometric software and services provider Aware, Inc. reported its Q2 revenue for the year. Compared to the same period last year, Aware reported a 53 percent increase in revenue: $6.8 million over Q2 2013’s $4.4 million. Looking at the six-month period as a whole (ending June 30, 2014) revenue increased 42 percent over the same period in 2013, $13.4 million compared to $9.4 million.
A new model of the Blast Gauge System was launched this week by Black Box Biometrics. The Blast Gauge System is worn on a soldier or law enforcement officer’s person, giving medical staff and commanding officers immediate visual feedback to best assess the likelihood of traumatic brain injury sustained in the field due to blast overpreasure. Advancements on the new model of the wearable include longer battery life and a high-g accelerometer, which can measure blast accelerations up to 200g.
This week findBIOMETRICS took a look at Bionym, a consumer electronics company focused on biometrics and strong authentication. The company – who just recently joined the FIDO Alliance – has found a way to take a user’s automatic body functions and turn them into strong authentication. The company’s Nymi uses cardiac rhythm recognition, a proximity factor and task-based gesture control to authenticate wearers of the biometric wristband.
Finally, Peter O’Neill had a chance to interview Satoshi Amagai, president and CEO of mofira, and Jintaro Nozawa, Director and Executive Operating Officer at Fujisoft. The discussion served as an excellent overview of what each company has to offer in the biometric arena and the verticals ripe for finger vein authentication, as well as how their new partnership will manifest over the next year.
Stay posted to findBIOMETRICS next week as we continue down the road to Biometrics UnPlugged, bringing a close to July’s focus on the topic of next generation of commerce. Be sure to follow us on Twitter so you don’t miss a beat.
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July 28, 2014 – by Peter B. Counter
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