NEC XON biometric ID4Africa demos draw ministerial interest

Jun 26, 2019, 10:21 am EDT | Chris Burt

South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi was among ID4Africa attendees who showed interest in NEC’s Bio-IDiom multimodal biometric suite at the recent conference in Johannesburg, according to an announcement from NEC’s systems integrator for Africa NEC XON.

The Bio-IDiom suite, which the company says combines advanced machine learning with low-cost, powerful, mobile technologies, received a Good Design Best 100 award in Japan, and capabilities built into the suite have been used for challenging projects such as field trials in Kenya to support vaccinations and post-natal and infant healthcare.

“The pilot project in Kenya demonstrates the advanced state of development of this technology,” says Carel Coetzee, CEO of NEC XON. “Immunising children and providing lifelong healthcare is just one application among many for biometrics during the fourth industrial revolution. It’s a new era for biometrics solutions that help to overcome real-world socioeconomic, sustainability, safety and security challenges.”

Bio-IDiom’s multimodal biometrics capabilities include authentication from multiple sources, including face, iris, fingerprint, palm print, finger vein, voice, and ear acoustic recognition.

“NEC has optimised the software based on real-world experience and advanced R&D capabilities in this field,” says Coetzee. “The business also collaborates with a number of partners who play leading roles in this field, including the University of Nagasaki, global police agencies, and several other commercial operations, as well as the top security consultants from around the globe.”