Precise Biometrics delivers biometric solution for national ID cards in Portugal
23 April, 2007
category: Biometrics, Government
Precise Biometrics has won a procurement contract for Portugal’s “Citizen Card” that will replace several ID documents and will become the official ID document for all Portuguese citizens.
LUND, SWEDEN – Precise Biometrics AB, which develops and sells world-leading and user-friendly biometric security solutions based on fingerprints and smart cards, has won an important procurement contract for national ID cards in Portugal. The consortium is led by the digital security partner Gemalto.
The new so called “Citizen Card” will replace several ID documents and will become the official ID document for all Portuguese citizens. The card will include functions for simple, fast and secure interaction with government administrations, civil identification, tax payment, social security, health, and in the future, elections.
A first pilot phase has started in the Azores region. After the initial roll-out more than 2 million cards will be rolled out yearly. Precise Biometrics will supply 14 million licenses over a seven-year contract period. The project also includes delivery of the Precise 250 MC fingerprint readers.
Precise Biometrics has won the procurement contract in a consortium led by the digital security leader Gemalto, with whom Precise Biometrics also won the procurement contract for national ID cards in Qatar in 2006.
“This is our first national ID card project in Europe, and after our successes in Asia and the Middle East we are very pleased about this breakthrough on the European market. Additional applications are planned for the Portuguese national ID cards in the future, so this project has the potential to become even bigger”, says Thomas Marschall, President and CEO of Precise Biometrics AB.
Precise Biometrics’ algorithm Precise BioMatch™ is made available on all Java™ cards and is the Match-on-Card technology with the best performance world-wide and the smart card security is enhanced.
Precise Biometrics AB (publ.) is an innovative security company that supplies world-leading systems for fingerprint and smart card-based authentication. The company’s solutions replace keys, PIN codes and passwords and enhance the integrity of ID cards and passports. With its Precise Match-on-Card™ technology, the company is a market leader within smart ID cards. The product line includes systems for access control to buildings, computers and networks and for integration into ID cards and passports. The Precise Biometrics group has subsidiaries in Sweden, Great Britain, USA and a joint venture agreement in China. The group headquarters are in Lund, Sweden. Precise Biometrics is listed on the small cap list at the Nordic Exchange in Sweden (symbol: PREC). For more information, please visit www.precisebiometrics.com/.
