The Push For Biometrics

Concerns about authentication combined with falling prices of biometrics hardware and a maturing of the technologies will spur growth in sales, says Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), an Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based technology research firm. Biometrics spending will rise from $110 million in 2002 to $302 million in 2004, predicts an ABI report released last November.

Biometrics provides access control based on a human attribute that can't be easily copied. Examples include finger scanning, iris recognition, face recognition, signature verification and voice authentication. The technology will be used for security and identification at transportation terminals and casinos and for applications such as border control and trucking, says John Chang, senior analyst at ABI. He also expects to see biometrics-enabled laptops in areas such as health care.

Chang says the development of biometric technology standards will be crucial for wide-scale implementation. Standards that will allow interoperability among different technologies won't likely be complete until 2004, he says.

Some VARs and integrators are still waiting for demand to pick up. "A lot of people are looking to see what happens with the Department of Homeland Security and the way it approaches issues of identification,and the kinds of technology it will choose," says Allan VanDeventer, senior vice president of business development at Titan Secure Solutions, a division of San Diego-based Titan Corp. and an integrator of biometrics systems.

Most of Titan's biometrics customers are in the government, though it plans to explore the corporate market eventually, VanDeventer says. Last year, it implemented its Secure Executive Toolset,which includes iris-recognition technology from Iridian Technologies,for the Federal Aviation Administration.