IDEX Doubles Down On Access Control Partnership With Dongwoon Anatech

IDEX Biometrics is deepening its relationship with Dongwoon Anatech. Dongwoon is a South Korean semiconductor specialist, and first partnered with IDEX back in 2019 when it agreed to use the company’s fingerprint sensors in biometric smart cards designed for access control.

The two companies would solidify their relationship in 2020, when Dongwoon placed a follow-up order for IDEX’s newer TrustedBio sensor. The newest arrangement takes that one step further and makes IDEX Biometrics Dongwoon’s official biometric sensor partner for its access control and identity initiatives moving forward. Dongwoon has also placed another follow-up order for TrustedBio sensors as part of the agreement.

The news reflects IDEX’s growing interest in fingerprint applications that go beyond biometric payments. The company is rapidly approaching the full-scale commercialization of biometric payment cards, but noted that the same technology can be used in the cards that workplaces issue to their employees. Those cards function much like a traditional ID badge, and can be presented at a card reader to gain access to a secure facility. The embedded fingerprint sensor provides an additional layer of biometric authentication, and prevents unauthorized individuals from using a badge that has been lost or stolen.

“We are pursuing innovative applications for card-based biometric authentication, which we believe is a very promising market,” said Dongwoon CEO Kim Dong Cheol. “We are very excited about our collaboration with IDEX Biometrics, which offers industry-leading technology and systems support to reduce our time to market.”

“Partnering with innovative technology leaders like Dongwoon Anatech enables IDEX Biometrics to accelerate its response to this rapidly growing opportunity,” added IDEX CEO Vince Graziani. “Fingerprint biometrics will soon be considered a standard approach to authentication, whether used in payment cards, digital wallets, or in the digital identification applications pursued by our partner Dongwoon Anatech.”

IDEX is not the only fingerprint payment specialist turning its attention to the access control market. FPC’s T-Shape sensor has been integrated into a new access card from Freevolt Technologies, while IDEX’s partner Zwipe recently unveiled its own card-based multi-factor authentication offering.

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December 20, 2021 – by Eric Weiss