3M Cogent selected for Port of Long Beach port security pilot test

3M Cogent has announced that its MiY Outdoor Biometric Access Control Reader has been selected by SSA Marine with its integrator TRL Systems to manage the Port of Long Beach in Southern California.

The Port of Long Beach is the second-busiest seaport in the United States and is a leading gateway for trade with Asia. It employs 30,000 people and is serviced by 11,000 drayage trucks.

According to 3M Cogent, its systems were chosen as SSA Marine couldn’t find a solution which was compliant and and rugged enough to perform outdoors reliably.

“Several pilots had been attempted over three years at the Port of Long Beach, but SSA Marine couldn’t find a reader that met the security challenges presented by a busy port and that was rugged enough to resist temperature shifts, rain, dust and other environmental challenges,” Christopher Crump, director of Commercial Business at 3M Cogent, Traffic Safety and Security Division said.

According to the company, from 2008 to 2011, the Transportation Security Administration conducted a study on the use of TWIC cards with biometric readers. The study, which included the Port of Long Beach, showed that confidence increases as additional layers of authentication are added, and recommended that card readers needed to be a part of a wide effort.

3M Cogent’s MiY readers have been installed in two different areas of the port, one for use by truckers and the other by port employees.

“Port security is a new market area for 3M Cogent, and one that is receiving more attention,” Crump said. “The MiY reader is an important product because it is flexible and customizable and can meet our port clients’ stringent requirements, with minimum support from 3M Cogent.”

Reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, 3M Cogent recently entered into a contract to provide a digital fingerprint matching system for the Police Department in Seychelles, which up until now, has been processing fingerprint records manually.

In October 2010, 3M acquired Cogent for US$10.50 per share, and the transaction had an aggregate value of almost US$1 billion. Through the purchase, 3M obtained Cogent’s Automated Fingerprint/Palmprint Identification System, or AFIS.

Article Topics

3M  |  access control  |  AFIS  |  authentication  |  biometric reader  |  biometrics  |  port security  |  security  |  TSA