TECH5’s ABIS Engine Complies with Key Digital ID Standards in Telecommunications

TECH5’s T5-OmniMatch ABIS Biometric Engine is now compliant with the identity-related categories of APIs of the OSIA ITU standard (ITU-T Recommendation), opening the door to its further integration into digital ID infrastructure around the world.

The OSIA ITU standard (ITU-T Recommendation) is a set of standardized APIs introduced by the Secure Identity Alliance (SIA) and officially adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the spring of this year. It ensures interoperability between components of an identity management system, allowing them to connect regardless of technology, architecture, or vendor, and eliminates vendor lock-in.

The initiative was launched in 2019, and over five years, it has evolved through collaboration between government representatives and industry experts. The core purpose of OSIA is to provide a set of standardized interfaces (APIs) that enable seamless connectivity between various components of the identity management ecosystem. This standardization aims to foster interoperability, promote fairness in the market, and allow governments to maintain control over their identity systems while pursuing national development agendas.

On March 1, the OSIA specification was approved as an official ITU-T Recommendation by ITU members, including 193 countries and leading ICT companies. That effectively established OSIA as a global standard for the infrastructure of information and communication technologies (ICT).

The latest version of T5-OmniMatch ABIS BE is compliant with two of the standard’s API categories: Population Registry (PR) and Biometric Systems (ABIS). This means TECH5’s platform is OSIA-ready with respect to the implementation of IDMS (Integrated Database Management Systems) and Automated Biometric Identification Systems in the area of telecommunications.

In a statement announcing the achievement, TECH5 Chief Revenue Officer Ameya Bhagwat called it “critically important” for the company’s success in the telecom field, which he characterized as one of TECH5’s “key vertical markets”.

Rahul Parthe, the company’s co-founder, Chairman, and CTO, drew attention to the bigger picture as TECH5 seeks to aid in the development of national-scale ID systems around the world, noting that the firm is focused on working with open standards.

“Compliance with two of such open systems – OSIA and MOSIP – makes TECH5’s biometric matching platforms perfectly suitable for National ID projects around the world fostering interoperability without sacrificing the innovation of the proprietary technologies,” he said. “We focus on enabling countries with reliable technologies and solutions allowing to build Foundational ID and Digital ID infrastructures based on the direction they choose.”

Parthe recently discussed these efforts in depth alongside Visa’s Government Solutions Regional Leader for CEMEA, Svyatoslav Senyuta, on the ID Talk podcast. The discussion focused on the companies’ GovWallet solution, which combines TECH5’s biometric and identity technologies with Visa’s payments capabilities and infrastructure.

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September 10, 2024 – by Alex Perala and Cass Kennedy