Idemia makes OEM pitch for biometric modules

A recent webinar from Idemia Public Security looks at how original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can integrate seamless security into devices with its biometric modules.

Together, Idemia’s Product Manager Thierry Jouan and Senior Manager for Market Intelligence Divanshu Gupta offer a review of the hardware and software used in smart biometric embedded devices. Biometrics, they say, offer not just a security upgrade, but a “strategic enhancement that can set your products apart in a competitive market.”

Gupta says Idemia has seen significant growth in OEM modules in terms of both revenue and use cases. He says the OEM fingerprint scanner market is already over US$3 billion, and that Idemia’s product portfolio included optical fingerprint modules with a wide variety of potential integrations.

“Our fingerprint model comes with different FAP sizes,” Gupta says, referring to fingerprint acquisition profile – the size of the scanner’s acquisition area, which impacts accuracy. Idemia’s CBM series has the largest acquisition area and is the slimmest optical module in its category. This makes it easy to integrate into mobile and compact devices such as point-of-sale terminals and ATMs.

One specific use of the CBM device modules is for identity verification in concert with India’s twelve-digit Aadhaar number.

Other modules include the MSO 330 OEM series for high-end FAP 30 biometric optical devices, and the MTop Slim module, a category of FAP 60 that offers both slap and roll fingerprint acquisition and is useful for border management, immigration, voter registration and other use cases.

Rated among leaders in biometric fingerprint verification

In addition to seamless integration, says Thierry Jouan, Idemia offers proven accuracy. Benchmarking from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) benchmarking shows the company’s algorithm among industry leaders. Additional advanced spoof detection ensures liveness and counters presentation attacks. Processing and matching are conducted within the product to ensure the encrypted templates never leave the device. And in terms of standards compliance, Jouan says all modules will pass iBeta assessment by the end of 2025.

“So in order to be a biometric expert, partners just need to integrate these modules into their devices and set commands on the basis of their use cases,” says Gupta. Among these, corporate and enterprise applications show three primary use cases in physical access control, time and attendance management and single sign-on credentials.

In banking, financial services and insurance, fingerprint modules can add additional layers of authorization to eKYC, customer onboarding and identity verification to combat fraud at ATMs, in e-commerce deliveries and at retail locations. “All of these solutions can be easily achieved by Idemia FAP 10 and FAP 30 models and a sensor,” Gupta says.

Aims for varied use cases, consistency in customer support

Travel and transport offers more use cases. Passenger check-in, baggage claim and gate access all use fingerprint modules to improve user experience. At immigration, modules can support border control and immigration. Then there are verticals in government (national digital ID, elections), healthcare (access to medical devices, records and prescriptions), education (student attendance and exam registration) and industrial (limiting access to specific machines).

Idemia offers service, support and maintenance packages with its modules, making them “crucial for maintaining regulatory compliance and protecting personal data.”

“Service and support is a key element,” Gupta says. Idemia offers 24-7 support for SDK integration, maintenance and updates. But the need for support should be minimal, since Idemia takes care of all biometric functionalities without affecting the general operation of the device.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  IDEMIA  |  Idemia Public Security  |  OEM  |  research and development