ABI Forecasts $3.5 Billion Border Biometrics Market

ABI Research has released a new report that predicts that the border biometrics market will be worth $3.5 billion by 2025. The market encapsulates all of the biometric technologies that have been deployed to screen travelers at international borders in the past few years, including kiosks, e-gates, and security cameras with fingerprint, face, and iris recognition capabilities.  

Of the $3.5 billion total, $1.9 billion will be spent on surveillance cameras, while the remaining $1.6 billion will be spent on biometric devices, kiosks, and e-gates.

While civilians and border protection agencies have both displayed an interest in biometric technologies, ABI noted that providers will need to juggle several competing variables in order to generate a positive return on their investment. For instance, biometric tech can reduce processing times and improve the flow of traffic through border checkpoints, but those might not be the primary objectives of a border agency tasked with security. Any new technology also needs to comply with the latest privacy regulations.

There are nevertheless many companies that are currently trying to overcome those challenges. ABI highlighted Thales, IDEMIA, Gunnebo, Vision-Box, Dermalog, and HID Global as some of the key players in the biometric border space.

Of course, biometric screening technology has become increasingly commonplace in the fast few years, with dozens of deployments at international airports and land borders. In the past few months alone, Vision-Box moved forward with a trial of its Seamless Flow platform at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection introduced facial recognition kiosks in Philadelphia, making it the 27^th U.S. airport to receive the technology.

Thailand is also celebrating the early success of its own biometric screening program, which utilizes DERMALOG technology. The new ABI report suggests that that trend is likely to continue, and that there will be no shortage of opportunities for border biometrics providers.

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February 6, 2020 – by Eric Weiss