ImageWare to provide biometric engine for telecom with 30 million customers

Mar 18, 2019, 2:24 pm EDT | Chris Burt

ImageWare Systems has reached an agreement to provide its patented multi-modal Biometric Engine for user authentication to a major telecommunications company, beginning with an initial phase in a geographic region with 30 million users, according to an SEC filing.

Industry public relations consultant Tony Fisch, who counts ImageWare as a former client according to his LinkedIn, tweeted to Biometric Update that an industry source says the company’s new customer is MTN Nigeria.

Given the size of the customer base mentioned in the filing, MTN Nigeria makes sense, and is one of relatively few possibilities. The deal also includes a reseller partner, according to the 8-K Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) filing. ImageWare struck a deal with Fujitsu to offer biometric authentication on the Fujitsu Cloud Service K5 in Africa and other global regions in 2017.

ImageWare also reached a deal for a healthcare application in February which Fisch reports is a deal with financial services giant First Data worth up to $12 million per year.

Updated 9:13 AM on March 19, 2019