Biometrics Security News and Information

Your Face: Love It Or Hate It

That Elusive Biometric

You know, when it comes to Biometrics, the customer, in general pretty much has what I call a “leave it-or love it” type of attitude.  Meaning, they love the Biometric Technology so much, it provides the best level of Security, or they hate it, and swear that they will never use the technology again for their Security needs.  When I think about this, Fingerprint Recognition and Iris Recognition come most to mind.  Everybody, for the most part, loves it, because it is so easy to use, but when it comes to using the Iris, everybody does not like it (again, for the most part), because they are afraid going blind (this has still yet to be proven, though).  But then, they are those Biometrics which skirmish the line between love and hate.  And when it comes to this, Facial Recognition takes the cue.  To some degree or another, some customers of Biometrics like using this, but yet, it still has its very fair share of critics in the media, and other circles.  But, despite its flaws, Facial Recognition is actually growing strong in demand.  Not here in the United States (because of privacy rights issue), but in other parts, especially that of the United Kingdom. 

Here are some details:  “The advent of 9/11 put biometric technology firmly in the spotlight as an effective way of verifying the identity of citizens and strengthening the security of potentially vulnerable areas such as airports and other public spaces. Plans for a national identity card in the UK have not come to fruition but biometrics – particularly face recognition technology has witnessed a growth in popularity in the aftermath of the shocking events of 9/11 . . . He said that the UK and much of the rest of the world has also introduced biometric passports following the recognition that the technology is capable of providing the most accurate method of identifying a person’s face . . . While trailblazing police forces in the UK such as Merseyside, Nottinghamshire and Hertfordshire have adopted the technology in their custody suites to verify the identity of persistent offenders. It is now widely recognised that there is a clear link between local crime and international terrorism and a recognition of the value of the work individual police forces carry out in helping identify potential terrorists.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.biometricnewsportal.com/biometrics_news3.asp?articleid=266686&arttitle=Face recognition technology has witnessed a growth in popularity in the aftermath of 9-11). 

My Take

Really, it comes to of surprise to me that the United Kingdom is so quick in adopting Facial Recognition.  For instance, in my view, they are light years ahead of the United States in terms of being proactive about protecting their own borders.  While I am sure privacy rights issues do abound in that part of the world, people over there are much more accepting of trying new things, and not just staying with the status quo of Security.  Heck, after all, the United Kingdom I think has one of the largest CCTV Camera systems in the world which surround London. 

Well, whatever it is, Facial Recognition has really improved in terms of technological growth.  I started writing about this way back in 2002 or so, and at that time, all Facial Recognition was good for was recognizing people on a one to one basis.  Meaning, it worked best when only one person stood in front the Facial Recognition camera at a time.  But now, it has evolved to the point where it can virtually recognize tons of people in one group, across a large distance, and moving at a fast speed.  Probably the best example of this is in the major international airports, Heathrow International being one of them.  Although Iris Recognition is also being used in conjunction with it, in my view, Facial Recognition far surpasses that.  Another application where Facial Recognition is starting to be used rapidly now is in the area of cargo handling at maritime ports of entry. 

Here, there are literally thousands of people who enter and exit these ports every day, so what other better tool t use than Facial Recognition???  Although it is not 100% accurate (really, in this regard, none of the Biometric Technologies really are that accurate), it can still do a pretty good job of trying to keep track of all these people.  And with this, comes cost savings.  For example, for the amount it would take to hire Security guards, and pay them, you can get a Facial Recognition for just a fraction of that cost. 

But in the end, Facial Recognition, in my view, will always be one of those technologies which will have that “love and hate” syndrome.  But just like anything else, it has to be kept in balance with other things, and both its plusses and minuses have to kept in perspective.  This quote best sums up Facial Recognition:  “Although it is wrong to describe face recognition in particular as a panacea to solving the world’s security problems – it has proved to be a major player in the crime fighting armoury of countries such as the UK . . .  in the ten years since 9/11.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.biometricnewsportal.com/biometrics_news3.asp?articleid=266686&arttitle=Face recognition technology has witnessed a growth in popularity in the aftermath of 9-11.)

You Can't Forget The Cloud

The E-Passport, Take III

Yea, I know, this is probably becoming extremely boring content matter, as this is the third time now I have written about this in three straight days.  But in the Biometrics Industry, when something comes in this much frequency, then you know something, somewhere big, could very well be happening. 

So here we go, with Take III:  “Entrust, Inc., a provider of online identity and information security solutions, provided an update on the evolution of its ePassport technology and growing international interest in Cloud for PKI services and mobile-based border security solutions to the attendees and participants of the International Civil Aviation (ICAO) Seventh Symposium in Montreal this week . . . In his presentation, "Trends in ePassport Trust," Entrust product marketing manager David Mahdi noted that while ePassport technology has been adopted by several nations around the world, many that have executed on ePassport programs still only rely on paper- based security features due to a lack of resources. "Without appropriately implemented interoperable PKI-based trust infrastructure and ICAO-compliant document verification, the investment in an ePassport solution is for naught," he said. A potential solution, Mahdi said, may come from cloud-based trusted PKI solutions that enable countries to better manage costs and system, while still providing the confidence in the country's ability to meet global border security standards.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9247/).

My Take

Even though the Press Release from which the above quote came from was rather small in terms of content, these few sentences brings out a few very strong issues which resonate to me as a tech writer. First, is the contradiction of the e-Passport.  For as much as I have written about it, and its quick pace of adoption worldwide, I was always under the assumption that it was all, for the most part, electronic.  I was very surprised to see that despite this adoption rate, many countries still fall back on the traditional paper passport. 

Perhaps, it is just the actual Smart Card chip embedded from within the paper itself???  Second, the above quote brings out a very key point I have been making about the e-Passport:  The lack of global standards.  For as quick as the adoption rate might be worldwide, there needs to be a common set of standards and best practices so that each country using the e-Passport has common technology platforms from which to leverage themselves.  I am just talking about the macro-technology, not every minute detail in the e-Passport infrastructure of each and every country.  Third, the above quote brings out another very important point:  The adoption to the cloud.  It seems like everyday, there are new advances being made in it, and just about every application IT wise you can think of is now being out in the cloud. 

Although I am not privy to all of the details which take place  in cloud computing, if everybody is clamoring towards it, maybe there are some common standards in it???  If this is truly the case, then perhaps migrating the e-Passport infrastructure to the cloud could then very well make perfect sense.  And, it could very well address to some degree or another the issue of uniform standards.  And plus, by moving to the cloud, the cost savings to each and every nation could be great.  For instance, rather than having to invest in an e-Passport infrastructure from ground up and with new technologies from the various Biometrics Vendors, this could all be outsourced to the cloud. 

But with the cloud, keep in mind that all of this will be farmed out to a third party.  And this in itself brings up a whole new can of worms, such as Security, Privacy Rights, protection of the Biometric Templates, and so forth.  But irregardless, this whole Posting brings out a very important theme:  The cloud is coming in full force, it will be here to stay and cannot be ignored by any type or kind of industry, most especially the Biometrics one.

The E-Passport, Once Again

And Even More Documents

Well, in today’s Posting, we are going to continue with the theme of even more Security documents.  Nope, it is not about the National ID Card, but something which I would call a close cousin to it – the e-Passport.  Again, this is something I have written extensively about before, especially last year.  I guess this year I have not written about nearly as much.  But anyways, just like the previous Posting from Friday, another market research organization known as “IMS Research” came out with some predictions with regards to the e-Passport.  And, in my view, some their findings were a bit surprising. 

Here are the details:  “Within five years 90% of passport holders will be using e-passports that integrate a smart card IC chip . . . The report goes on to explore to what extent biometrics are being recorded on these e-passports. Interestingly, even for passports issued in 2010, in the majority of cases no biometric data is held on these secure ICs except for a digital image of the holders face . . . IMS Research forecast that this will change. “By 2014, the situation is forecast to have been reversed” states Green. “By this time the majority of passports being issued will also include additional biometric data such a one or more finger print, iris scans, etc.” (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9241/). 

My Take

OK, so what is exactly so surprising to me???  First, I never realized that the gap cycle for any country to go from the paper passport to the newer e-Passport is about 5-10 years, as can be seen from the above quote.  I surmise that this is mostly true for the industrialized countries, where there already is a technological infrastructure in place.  But I think the time cycle is actually lower for developing nations, where there starting with virtually no advanced infrastructure.  Also, of all passports which are issued today, only half are e-Passports.  Given the amount I have covered on this subject matter, I thought that the number would be a lot more than that. 

Second, the most alarming finding for me came when it was discovered that a bulk of the e-Passports issued in 2010 contained no Biometric Templates.  Rather, all that was stored was a mere picture of the passport holder’s face.  But, according to the research, this trend will take a drastic reversal turn by 2014, when a majority of the e-Passports issued will contain Biometric Templates of sorts (such as Fingerprint, Facial, Iris, etc.).  Although I am not privy to the exact details of this market research, just based on this one claim, I do not agree with it.  For example, a majority of the Postings I have written talked about using Biometrics, and how Biometrics Vendors were being awarded lucrative contracts by the many nations around the world.  And in fact, I do remember, is started writing about this back even in 2009. 

But in general, this report supports strongly one hypothesis I have made and will continue to do so.  The world is moving towards a place where everything (including Security) will be paperless, and stored onto a Smart Card, or the technology embedded into it another card of sorts.  But with regards specifically to the e-Passport, there will be one major hurdle which could impede its explosive growth.  And, that is the lack of a global standards and best practices.  For example, one country may adopt an e-Passport technological infrastructure which could be totally different from another country. 

The end resultant will be travelers who are faced with massive inconvenience when they try to enter a particular country, because of this technological mismatch.  It all comes down to that realism has to catch up with explosive growth and rosy projections.  Hmm, or maybe even vice versa. 

How Many Cards???

A New Card???

Except for Biometrics, what is the only for sure (at least in theory) way of confirming the identity of an individual??? Yep, you got it, it is your driver’s license, or passport, or social security card, or whatever document you may have in your possession.  For the longest time, governments around the world have tried to consolidate all of these documents into one major document, or card, known as the National ID Card.  Countries around the world have adopted this to some format or another, except for us here in the United States, where issues of privacy rights and civil liberties still abound. 

According to a recent market research report headed by “Accuity Intelligence, Inc.”, the demand is still growing to grow even further.  Here we go:  “Acuity Market Intelligence today announced that a dramatic shift from traditional National IDs to National Electronic IDs (eIDs) would generate more than $11 billion dollars in annual revenue by 2013. While the total number of countries with some form of National ID program is projected to increase just 11%, growing from 126 to 140 between 2010 and 2015, the number of countries with National eID programs will grow from 67 to 114 over the forecast period, an increase of more than 70%.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9219/).

My Take

First, it should be noted that we are not talking about the National ID Card directly, per se.  But rather what we are talking about is what is known as the National Electronic ID Card.  This change in wording makes a huge difference in the demand numbers.  As you can see in the above quote, demand for the National ID Card is just a mere 11%, but for the National E-ID Card, the demand swelters to over 70%.  But, what are the population areas which are seeing this surge in demand???  Well, the report claims that one of the areas for the strongest levels of demand remains in Europe, where 33 of the countries will have some sort of National E-ID Card program established by the year of 2015. 

But expected to far surpass these European nations are that of India and China.  Collectively, these two nations will issue some 400+ E-ID cards, bringing in some $7 billion of revenues by 2015 to the Biometrics and Smart Card industries (and whoever else participates in this process).  This truly comes of no surprise to me, as India and China are the largest populations in the world, and it only continues to grow at an exponential rate.  After all, there has to be some way to track all of these new born infants, right???  Plus, as I have written before, India is the home of the world’s largest Biometric project, in which all of the citizens will be enrolled into some Biometric database (differing technologies are being used). 

As I write this Posting, there is one thing that lingers in my mind, and is still of some bewilderment to me.  And that is, really, what is the difference between a National ID Card and the National E-ID Card???  I have to be honest, I have never really seen these documents or technologies, or for that matter even the e-Passport.  But, I have always envisioned the National ID Card to be an electronic card in of itself.  For example, my vision of it is that it would strongly resemble a credit card, with a chip embedded into it (really, it is a Smart Card), which would contain all of our Biometric Templates and other types of information and data (such as medical history, government entitlements, benefits, etc.).  So, as you can see, this National ID Card I had in mind would be like a one size fits all sort of application. 

Hmm, maybe I truly need to see first hand what these two items look like, so I can see the differences which are there.  But whatever it is, the implications of this market research study only implore the fact that the demand for some sort of electronic documentation is only going to grow at a huge clip, and of course, this will be reflected in the various countries around the world adopting it. 

But how about here in the United States???  I have always held the hypothesis that National ID Card scheme would never take off.  So how about the National E-ID Card???  Forget that.  The issues of privacy rights will only further abound with this, until we as a society embrace a new way of doing things.  In this way, we here in the United States are still among the most naïve and ignorant group of people in the world to address change in any way, shape, or form.

Remembering The Worst Day Ever

Remembering The Tragic Day

As you know, this Sunday marks the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.  I won’t go over the details as to where I was on that fateful day, nor what my close friends and family members had to endure.  I have written about this in the past, and it is too painful for me to recount it all.  As you know, after that day, the our own Federal Government spent much time and efforts reviewing the events as to how that day could have happened, and what steps need to be taken to curtail from such a horrible thing happening again. 

Tons of legislations were passed, and many new Security technologies were introduced.  So, where do we stand 10 years later?  Well not so good, according to a recent report just published by the Bipartisan Policy Center, also known as the BPC.  They claim that out of 41 recommendations made to the Federal Government, only about 9 issues still remain outstanding.  But, these 9 areas are very crucial, and if not implemented, it could very well lead to another 9/11 type of attack, despite all of the other countermeasures taken.  Here is what they say:

*The increased need for coordination at a disaster scene, which includes the need for a unified chain of command accountability;

*Having an additional radio frequency for first responders at a disaster scene (just to have a back up in case other frequencies go out, such as the effects of electromagnetic pulsing from a nuclear attack);

*A much needed increased need for emergency communications between all levels of government here in the United States (this includes the Federal, State, and Local levels;

*The sharing of intelligence information and data between the Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence agencies is just as bad (and even worse) than before 9/11.  For instance, “ . . . Congress should immediately consolidate jurisdiction over DHS within the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees and establish separate subcommittees for funding the intelligence agencies. The formation of a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board should also be a priority. While legislation was enacted to create this Board, it has been dormant for more than three years.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9214/);

*The US-VISIT Program, while although good progress has been made, still has no way to track people as they leave the United States, and calls for a full scale implementation of Biometrics of all sorts;

*Although the  Director of National Intelligence  and the National Counterterrorism Center functions have been identified, their roles and their contribution to the protection of our homeland still remains totally unclear;

*Etc., Etc., Etc (I am sure the list can go on even further).

So, what is my take on this whole thing???  Well, it is clearly evident.  Really, technology is not the answer.  Even despite our economic recession, we are still the leaders in technology.  So throwing that as the solution to the problem is not the issue.  What is needed is something extremely basic, and goes back to the dawn of when humans first evolved.  And that is communications. 

Between all levels of our Federal Government, the line of communications has to be crystal clear, and all levels of accountability must be enforced in this regard.  There can be no saying “Well, I didn’t know about that, etc.”.  If the lines of communications were clear, perhaps 9/11 would not have happened, and the previous Presidential Administration would not have labeled the invasion of Iraq back in 2003 as a “slam dunk”.  This is something I have addressed before, in my Equation of Successful Security. 

Just as important technology is (I mean humans can’t be every where at every single minute, and we do have points of fatigue and exhaustion), so is human vigilance and awareness.  But, the clear lines of communications will only happen once the bureaucratic lines in the Federal Government are taken out, and the fat is trimmed.  But given how long it took to work out a deal to raise the debt ceiling, trying to have clear lines in Security will take even longer. 

And it is quite possible another 9/11 event could happen. We will then be scratching our heads asking what happened.  And again, we will discover it is the lack of communications.  Hmm, I guess we will never get it, will we???

The State Of Education In The United States

Improving Our Education

As we all know, the United States pretty much lags far behind the rest of the industrialized world in terms of math and science education at the high school level.  In standardized tests conducted one after another, we are always constantly behind the other nations of Europe, the Pacific Rim, and Asia.  Every presidential administration, at the start of their term, promises that implementing a stronger math and science curriculum at the junior high school and high school levels will always be a top priority.  Yet, it never happens.  So school boards, districts, and administrators are often left on their own resources to further beef up their curriculums, and to get their students prepared for the rigors of college. 

When we hear about math and science, we often envision precalculus courses and physics, chemistry, being implemented.  But who has ever heard of Biometrics???  Well, it is now part of one curriculum at one educational institution known as the “Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School”.  They have created a program called “STEM” (which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into their Pittsburgh location. 

Here are the details:  “The ultimate aim of PA Cyber's STEM initiative is to locate centers throughout Pennsylvania "where our students can go and immerse themselves in science and technology," said Dr. Trombetta. "These centers would create STEM curriculum and activities for the state and nation that are effective, affordable and accessible . . . Dr. Trombetta said the online school has already committed significant resources for programs and curricula designed for young people interested in science or technical careers. A new "school of engineering" within PA Cyber is currently enrolling its first class of high school freshmen. Full-credit high school courses were added this fall in robotics, biometrics and advanced placement biology . . . PA Cyber's 250 online courses include a wide menu of basic and advanced math, science and technical courses, many of them not found in traditional school districts. An original series called Cutting Edge Science includes courses in emerging genetics, forensic science, biofuels and engineering land speed vehicles.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9210/). 

My Take

When I first read this Press Release, I had to re read it a few times to really make sure that Biometrics was specifically mentioned in it.  I mean seriously, who has heard of teaching Biometrics at the high school level???  Sure, it is in college cirriculums in computer science (I know Purdue University has a very strong Biometrics program, being from there), but teaching it to teenagers whose biggest concern is dating!?!?!?  But truth be told, I am really happy to see that there is this initiative to help beef up math and science at the high school level, even if it is just an online program. 

Although one may question to some degree why Biometrics should be taught at this level, if you think about it, it is one of those fields which encompasses just about every aspect of science, ranging from high level calculus to statistics (for creating the Biometric Templates and all of those fancy algorithms for identification and verification); engineering (for creating the Biometric devices), and all levels of biology and physiology (which is the fundamental core of Biometrics).  So, in my view, it is quite important to teach something like this students at the high school level.  As much as we should not lose sight into the teaching the very basic fundamentals of math and science the “old-fashioned way” (as my parents strongly advocated), it is also equally important for students to see the applications of what they are learning. 

And, Biometrics can serve as a perfect example of this macro kind of math and science application.  Even to me, as I learn many different things (heck, even us old people can never stop learning), I also need to see the applications of what I am learning in order to truly understand it.  As we move out into time and advance, the world is only going to become completely dependent upon technology, and it will be a huge part of our daily lives (as we are seeing it in the Smartphone, for example).  So why not prepare students ahead of time for this trend, by giving them some solid grounding into the principles and concepts of Biometrics??? 

It is one of those fields which will continually expand and grow, and who knows, some of these high school students may even find employment possibilities down the road with it.  But in order to create a strong program in Biometrics at the high school level, the Biometrics Industry also needs to play a very large role in this, and perhaps even make a significant commitment to it, by donating equipment, and sending their technical staff to develop the right cirriculum. 

This is exemplified in this Press Release, as scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratories are helping to develop the cirriculum in the initiative as described in this Posting.  In my who knows how many years of writing on Biometrics, this is just another example of it as to how it touches our lives, in every aspect.  And here, we are seeing it impact the lives of high school students as they prepare for a very competitive world ahead of them.

The Children Are The Future

Protecting Our Future

To many people out there, this title can hold a lot of different meanings.  But in today’s times, it means having enough for retirement.  But for somebody like me who is about to get married to Anita, it means starting a family, and protecting the livelihood of our future children.  And in this regard, Biometrics can play a huge role.  In today’s Posting, a Biometrics Vendor known as “Digital Persona, Inc.” is mentioned, and the place where Biometrics is being used to protect children is known as “Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services” is also described. 

So here we go, here are the details:  “DigitalPersona, Inc., a global provider of authentication and endpoint protection solutions, today announced Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services (Children's Clinics) has deployed DigitalPersona Pro data protection and access security software and U.are.U Fingerprint Readers to enhance the rollout of its new electronic health records (EHR) system. Using fingerprint biometrics, Children's Clinics has eliminated the need for employees and contract healthcare providers to remember passwords to access applications and sensitive patient information. This new system improves workflow efficiency, increases patient data security and significantly reduces IT helpdesk requests for lost or forgotten passwords . . . With more than 25 specialty clinics, primary care and therapy services, Children's Clinics offers Southern Arizona's families a wide range of healthcare services to meet the health care needs of their children. The organization was transitioning to NextGen Ambulatory EHR from years of utilizing paper charts. Children's Clinics was challenged with managing login credentials and needed a solution to help streamline the login process to improve workflow. More than 40 percent of the clinic's staff are part-time contract providers who only work in the clinic a couple of times a month. Because contactors only use the systems when they are at the clinic, passwords could easily be forgotten. Time and resources would be wasted recovering and reissuing passwords, causing frustration for both providers and patients.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9186/). 

My Take

Well, when one reads the Press Release, there is really nothing new about this application.  On many dozens of occasions, I have written about Biometrics is being used in healthcare, especially in regards to meeting the demands of HIPAA, and a new one now, what is known as the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act”, or “HITECH”.  Fingerprint Recognition is the most commonly used here, and the primary application is for protecting patient files, and for providing a faster and more efficient way to login into a hospital computer or network, without having to remember hundreds of complex passwords. 

But there, is one thing which sort of stood out in my mind.  And that, is the mention of contract workers.  When I conjure up an image of a baby nursery at a hospital, the thought of nurses and doctors buzzing around them come to mind.  But, never has the image of contracted workers.  In a way, this is scary, because we are seeing temporary employees having access to such innocent and precious lives.  Who is say that they have not had a background check, or even a criminal history check???  How do we know that these contracted workers do not have some history behind them with regards to child abuse??? 

Very often, the temporary agencies who hire these workers do not do such checks, because they are in such a rush to start the billable hours.  And what to me is even scarier is that as described in the above quote, close to 50% of this healthcare organization’s staff is made up of temps, who only work a few times a month.  Although Biometrics is not the 100% full proof answer, at least it provides a strong Security function in positively verifying and identifying these temps, to make sure that they are legitimately working at a particular healthcare organization. 

And when you are talking about access to babies, the fears and thoughts of the worst case scenarios only proliferate that much more.  But hey, at least Biometrics can provide a reasonably good line of defense.  I guess today’s Posting made a huge impact on me, not because I am planning my life with Anita, but her sister, Asha, gave birth to her first child. And seeing a picture of that little angel of life just made me realize even more just how precious they really are.

An ATM In Cyberspace

Who Needs Cash???

To all of my readers out there, how many of you actually carry cash with you???  A few hundred or even just a few dollars???  As for me, I hardly ever carry any cash.  I just slap everything on good ole’ Discover credit card.  Heck, you can really rack up some nice cashback bonuses that way.  Or, here is another question for ya’ll:  How many times do you visit an ATM machine to with draw the cash you need??? Do you make a special trip to the one that is at your bank, or are you willing to go to any for the sake of convenience???  The reason that I am asking is that there is a new thing out there, called the “Virtualized ATM”, and it is being introduced by a Security Vendor known as “Diebold”. 

Here is the inside goop:  “For nearly 20 years, onboard computing technology has been at the core of the automated teller machine (ATM). But today, Diebold, Incorporated is leveraging virtualization technology to introduce a prototype for the world's first virtualized ATM . . . Diebold developed the virtualized ATM prototype in collaboration with VMware. The companies' vision for the powerful combination of their innovative self-service and virtualization technologies is to enable financial institutions to address their most critical business priorities: enhancing security and mitigating fraud, improving operational efficiency, delivering optimal consumer experience and growing and retaining their customer base . . . Virtualization of the self-service channel removes the onboard computer from the ATM, tying each terminal in a fleet to a centralized computing resource. In this scenario, the physical components of a single server provide resources to many "virtual" ATMs . . . Consolidation will enable the establishment of a single secure datacenter . . . In short, virtualization will lead to a lower total cost of ownership and increased ATM uptime.”  (SOURCE:  http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9204/). 

My Take

Actually, truth to be told, this development is deemed to be the world’s first virtualized ATM.  Essentially, from what I understand, the virtualization will remove the need for the onboard computer at the ATM machine, and basically be right in front of your computer screen (this is what I assuming).  If this does become a reality, this has a lot of benefits to be derived:

*Increased customer efficiency.  By this, I mean, there should not be any more need for those pesky transaction fees, because now everything will be done in the cloud;

*Probably the best news is that, if this goes on a large scale rollout to the public, customers will no longer have to make a special trip to their bank or to a nearby ATM.  All needed cash can be withdrawn right from their computer terminal;

*But the biggest news is that of safety.  People are always worried about visiting the ATM late at night, being attacked, or being a victim of skimming and/or phishing.  But now being able to withdraw your cash from the convenience of your own home, safety should no longer be a prime concern;

*Other higher levels of Security will be reached, such as mitigating of financial fraud, and most importantly, Identity Theft.  As you can see from the above quote, because of virtualization, a lot of the hosting and transaction requirements will take place in just one datacenter.  This means, that resources can be pooled together a lot easier to track down and apprehend would be thieves and hackers.

Finally, it should be noted that this is still in the prototype stage, and that the primary target market at the present time is for the financial sector, covering the retail space.  The benefits I described above are just my own extrapolations if it were applied to the every day banking consumer.  Also, Diebold is working with VMWare on this project, and their virtualization platforms are amongst the heaviest used worldwide. 

In my view, although is truly a giant step forward, this just underscores the significance and impact of what cloud computing and virtualization will mean to us in our every day lives.  In short order, anything and everything will be available at just a few clicks of the mouse, and best of all, at a price we can control and afford.