Stronger authentication and ease of use main drivers at ImageWare, says CEO

Innovation is the differentiating factor at ImageWare Systems. Over the past several years, ImageWare has secured 17 patents worldwide. Its latest U.S. patent provides the company with exclusive rights to a search process that compares multiple biometric modalities. The patent covers database search and biometric comparison strategies for supporting both asynchronous and synchronous searches of two or more biometric modalities. The invention defines the processes of comparing multiple modalities both in a single search where all modalities are compared simultaneously, as well as searching one modality at a time and pruning the list of matching candidates after each modality is searched.

“We are one of the original pioneers in the biometric industry and continue to strategically position ourselves as a leader in the rapidly growing biometric space,” said ImageWare Chairman and CEO Jim Miller. “The addition of this latest patent extends our already broad intellectual property coverage to include a new method of searching databases, both large and small, to determine if they consist of multiple biometric modalities for search and match.” The patent enables an additional feature to the firm’s biometric security system offerings.

ImageWare’s product line includes both on-premise and software-as-a-service mobile biometric user authentication, powered by its patented “Biometric Engine“, which is hardware and algorithm independent. Biometric Engine can enroll and manage unlimited user population, with ultra-scalability for worldwide deployment. It is the driving force that allows ImageWare and its customers to manage millions of biometric templates in real time. ImageWare supports algorithms for virtually all leading biometric types (modalities) including: fingerprint for civil ID and livescan, face for civil and NIST-compliant mugshots , iris for civil ID, hand geometry , NIST-compliant palm print, signature , voice and even 3-D facial recognition .

The most innovative trend for ImageWare has been incorporating this powerful engine into its next-generation mobile biometric cloud-based solutions. The company has combined cloud and mobile technology to offer multi-factor authentication for smartphone users and mobile clients. “Our mobile solutions combine the very latest in smartphone technology with our proven, patented, biometric authentication systems and cloud-technology to bring you a highly secure, easy to implement and use, biometrics-as-a-service with a pay-as-you-go service model,” stated Miller. “This enables banking, retail, financial services, or any business that requires stronger forms of authentication to incorporate biometrics using features already available to smartphone customers including voice biometrics and facial recognition.” In effect, ImageWare solutions allow companies to quickly add mobile biometric authentication without having to develop or deploy their own systems in-house.

ImageWare’s GoVerifyID product enables “Out-Of-Band verification”, does not require any mobile front-end coding and can be integrated into existing enterprise applications. Out-Of-Band (OOB) Authentication uses two separate networks working simultaneously to authenticate a user. GoVerifyID can replace or be used in conjunction with the typical ID and password authentication approach. The product can also be used for on device authentication.

The GoVerifyID solution can be purchased via license or subscription as part of the company’s identity-as-a-services offering, GoCloudlD. ImageWare describes GoCloudlD as an “agnostic, cloud-based, identity management platform that reliably manages access to biometric enrollment and verification”. The platform offers rapid, integrated, flexible, and scalable deployment as an end-to-end or modular solution. A key benefit, according to Miller, is that GoCloudlD is the only hosted biometric identity management solution on the market that allows easy adoption with no start-up costs. As a result of this platform, ImageWare successfully assists many firms, including CA Technologies, Fujitsu, Trans Union, Lockheed Martin, and Deutsche Telekom to outsource their multimodal biometric ID and authorization requirements through their respective network of clients. The platform is designed for voice, fingerprint, and facial recognition and other biometric modalities and can replace or be combined with other and even pre-existing authentication and access controls including: tokens, digital certificates, passwords, and PINs, to provide the highest level of assurance and accountability for corporate networks, Web applications, mobile devices, and PC desktop environments.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometric template  |  biometrics  |  Cloud  |  ImageWare  |  multifactor authentication  |  patents