Advances Being Made
In the world of Biometrics, really also just like in any realm of the IT sector (including wireless), advances are being made every day, and just about every second. Biometrics Technology is coming along at a very fast clip, at least much more so now than a decade, when I first started in the industry. So with this in mind, I bring to you another advancement made in Fingerprint Recognition.
The Biometrics Vendor is known as “Lumidigm, Inc.”, and here are the details of this advancement: “Lumidigm today announced that its new Mariner fingerprint reader extends the reliable reading accuracy of multispectral imaging to popular, value-conscious, Windows PC-based biometrics applications. The new Mariner sensors make biometric authentication simple and affordable for real business applications in industries ranging from healthcare to transportation, logistics, passenger ID, heavy industry, construction and others that require the durability and reliability that have been unavailable until now. Up to 20 percent more reliable than conventional sensors, the Mariner sensor quickly and easily delivers a high-quality fingerprint to Windows PC for authentication . . . Mariner’s multispectral imaging reads both surface and subsurface fingerprints in the cold, hot, wet, dirty and dry conditions that impede traditional biometric sensors.” (SOURCE: http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9118/).
My Take
While at first glance, one would probably say, “What is so special about this, it is just like any other SSO which is out there?” To a large extent, this is true, but there are a couple of things about this one which sparked my interest, and thus I felt which warranted a Posting. First, the advancement being made here (while I am sure at a macro level there is nothing much new about it) is what is known as “multispectral imaging”. Although I am not a scientist or engineer to into the technicalities of all of it, based from what I have read about it, this advancement allows a much crisper image of the fingerprint to be taken, in fact, if my thinking is correct, one get a 20% more composite image a fingerprint than with the traditional sensors, which is primarily that of the optical technology (though there are others in use as well, such as infrared imaging, and ultrasound technology).
Second, given this breakthrough of sorts, this new Biometrics solution being offered can fit into a wide array of applications as well different types of markets. Most of the SSO’s I have written about are the ones which are primarily used at home computers, or the corporate office of SME’s. For example, as you can see from the above quote, such applications which are suitable for this Biometrics solution include transportation, logistics, construction, heavy transportation, etc. In other words, those industries where more “dirt and grime” are involved, thus the need to get a very, very accurate image of the fingerprint. And from within these industries, specific applications can include time and attendance, checking out laboratory equipment (that’s a new one here for me), etc.
Third, most of the SSO’s I have written about have been very broad in their platform usage. While this is a good thing in the sense that these can work on both closed source and open sourced software, this is probably one of the very few times (in fact, I think it is the second time) that an SSO has been developed for the Windows OS, and all of the applications which surround it. The latest OS, Windows 7, makes use of what is known as the “Windows Biometric Framework”. This functionality into the OS has allowed it be compatible with just about every type and kind of Fingerprint Biometrics Technology that is out there. As a result, there has been a plethora of Biometrics Vendors offering this type of technology with Windows 7. So this Biometrics solution as described in this Posting is probably trying to capitalize on that trend as well.
But over time, as the future Windows OS’s become more advanced (or more clunky), it will be interesting to see if the WBF will be expanded to allow for other Biometrics Technologies to come into the foreplay, such as Iris Recognition, Facial Recognition, Keystroke Recognition, Voice Recognition, etc. If this does indeed happen, watch for a huge rush for the Biometrics Vendors to stake their claim as well, as the Fingerprint Biometrics Vendors have. This could very well give another good boost to the Biometrics Industry as a whole.