IDEX advances biometric smartcard deployment, develops remote enrollment process

IDEX has partnered with security solution provider Feitian to commercialize a dual interface biometric smart card, and also developed a remote enrollment solution for biometric cards, enabling users to conveniently enroll without being physically present in a branch office, according to a pair of announcements Monday and Tuesday.

Feitian has developed a contact and contactless smart card leveraging IDEX’s off-chip fingerprint sensor technology, with rapid card prototyping enabled by IDEX’s complete biometric module. IDEX and Feitian engineering teams worked together to navigate the complexities biometric technology adds to the inlay and manufacturing processes, and develop the biometric smart cards very quickly, the companies say. The product will be offered to the government ID, access control and payment markets.

“Having watched the development of biometric technologies in other mass market verticals, we are excited to showcase our leadership in introducing biometrics to our existing leading smart card portfolio,” said Yan Yan, VP of Feitian Technologies Co., Ltd. “We are excited to be working with IDEX on these solutions, as they have clear demonstrable performance and cost advantages to conventional sensing solutions.”

The companies are showcasing the new smart cards at Trustech this week.

Remote enrollment to unlock mass deployment of smart cards

The process addresses a barrier to mass deployment of biometric cards in the payment and security markets, the company says, and is secure, low-cost, and requires only a smartcard with a standard secure EMV chip without need for an external computer, internet connection, or smartphone.

“This unique self-enrollment process that we have developed at IDEX is further evidence of our continued focus on delivering innovative and seamless end-to-end solutions for biometric cards. The mass adoption of biometric payment cards not only requires a scalable, low-cost, low-power, ISO form factor fingerprint sensor that works with existing payment terminals, but equally importantly it needs a simple, convenient and mass scalable way of enrolling users accurately and securely,” commented Dr. Hemant Mardia, CEO of IDEX. “Our revolutionary new solution allows customers to enroll their fingerprints using a low number of touches by making clever use of the large capture area of IDEX’s off-chip sensor which reduces the need for accurate positioning of the user’s fingers. This is a major improvement in the simplicity, accuracy and cost of the enrollment process verses solutions available in the market today.”

The patent-pending process is designed for usability across geographies and demographics, and IDEX is working with partners to incorporate it into card payment products to support broad commercial deployment of biometric cards it anticipates in 2018.

Last week, IDEX and IDEMIA announced an expansion of their partnership to develop contactless payment card solutions, and IDEX predicted the biometric smart card market could reach 300 million units in 2020 in an investor update earlier this month.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  fingerprints  |  IDEX  |  smartcards