IDEX Biometrics Announces Latest Secure Element Partner

“A key part of IDEX’s strategy is to partner with secure element industry leaders such as Fudan Microelectronics for providing solutions to all global card manufacturers.” – Vince Graziani, CEO, IDEX Biometrics

IDEX Biometrics has made another partner in the domain of Secure Element technology. The company has teamed up with Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Group (FMSH).

In a statement, IDEX described its new partner as “a leading company in the design and development of ASICs and complete systems solutions,” adding that the partnership will see the integration of IDEX’s biometric technology with FMSH’s Secure Element solution. The end result will be “targeted at multiple market segments.”

IDEX has shown a strong focus on the emerging biometric payment cards market in recent months, with firms like Ubivelox and Zwipe having recently placed orders for its TrustedBio fingerprint sensor solution. But in announcing the FMSH partnership, IDEX noted that its partner’s Secure Elements and other solutions offer applications in a number of areas beyond payments, including medical insurance, identity documents, transportation, and “emerging digital currency standards”.

Still, in commenting on the partnership, IDEX Biometrics CEO Vince Graziani made it clear that the focus here is very much on biometric cards, whether they’re for payment applications or something else. “A key part of IDEX’s strategy is to partner with secure element industry leaders such as Fudan Microelectronics for providing solutions to all global card manufacturers,” he explained.

Graziani went on to highlight recent Secure Element-focused partnerships with companies like TMC and Infineon, and said that others will follow. “IDEX has the largest portfolio of SE partnerships enabling smart card manufacturers to use their existing secure element technology investments such as card operating systems,” he said. “Broad secure element support is critical to enable the expected rapid acceleration of biometric card deployments.”

That last statement would seem to gesture toward biometric payment cards in particular, with large-scaled deployments widely anticipated to begin next year.

(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)