FPC’s T-Shape Sensor Enables 2FA Access Control Via Biometric Smart Card Integration

Fingerprint Cards is enhancing its position in both the smart cards and access control spaces thanks to a new partnership with United Kingdom-based Freevolt Technologies, which has integrated FPC’s fingerprint sensor module into a new access card called the “S-Key”.

Spun out of Imperial College London, Freevolt Technologies (formerly called “Drayson Technologies”) specializes in the development of next-gen biometric smart card solutions, with a focus on access control, crypto, payments, and healthcare applications. Its S-Key card is designed to enable contactless access control via two-factor authentication (via the card itself and its fingerprint authentication capability), with support available for a third authentication layer.

It’s now clear that FPC’s technology will play a key role in facilitating that 2FA security. The company developed its T-Shape sensor module specifically for card integrations, and has established multiple partnerships in the payment cards space in particular. But the company has also demonstrated a strong interest in expanding into the access control market in recent years, and has seen integrations of its technology into door lock products. The Freevolt integration demonstrates that FPC’s T-Shape solution has a role to play in this space, too.

Like the emerging biometric payment cards featuring Fingerprints’ T-Shape solution, Freevolt’s S-Key enables cardholder authentication via an embedded fingerprint sensor. The cardholder is thus able to scan their fingerprint on the card itself as they wave it in front of a contactless smart card reader, ensuring a heightened level of security with respect to physical access control.

“We are immensely proud to be working with Fingerprints, who are leaders in fingerprint technologies, and who have been incredibly supportive throughout our development of S-Key,” commented Freevolt Technologies Head of Product and Business Development Gonzalo de Gisbert. “By integrating our leading-edge Freevolt energy harvesting technology with Fingerprints’ best-in-class sensors and software, we have created a battery-less and revolutionary biometric access control card, which is available to order now.”

The collaboration is a success story for one half of Fingerprint Cards in particular. The company recently concluded a strategic review launched in the summer, with the result determining that the company would effectively split into two subsidiaries, one of which would focus on mobile biometrics, with the other to carry on FPC’s efforts in the areas of payment and access control.

–

December 1, 2021 – by Alex Perala