IDEX Biometrics Partners With Smart Card Maker

IDEX Biometrics has moved one step closer to the mass commercialization of biometric payment cards. To that end, the company has entered into a new strategic partnership with a tier one smart card manufacturer that creates cards for a global market.

IDEX did not disclose the name of its partner, though it did reveal that the arrangement will lower manufacturing costs for financial institutions that want to issue a biometric card. The arrangement will also take advantage of IDEX’s comprehensive biometric card platform, which comes with virtually everything that a client needs to get a new card up and running. That will minimize complexity and shorten development times, which will in turn allow financial institutions to bring new cards to market more quickly.

The turnkey biometric card platform combines IDEX’s TrustedBio fingerprint sensor module with an SLC38 Secure Element from Infineon. That hardware has been paired with IDEX’s new proprietary Card Operating System, and integrated with a range of financial applets and inlays through the IDEX and Infineon reference design that was unveiled back in July. IDEX is hoping that its new partner will accelerate the mass adoption of biometric cards in the next few years.

“This agreement represents the first major design win for IDEX’s TrustedBio turnkey solution,” said IDEX CEO Vince Graziani. “This agreement confirms that IDEX Biometrics is enabling the acceleration of market deployment for biometric smart cards. Together with our partner we will take to market a state of the art biometric smart card solution delivering secure and seamless user experience to millions of consumers globally.”    

IDEX recently received a large TrustedBio order from IDEMIA. Both Visa and Mastercard have now certified the latter’s F.CODE biometric card, which features the TrustedBio sensor. IDEX has also partnered with TMC to create a separate reference design for China’s digital currency initiative.

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(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)