New credit card sized card is world’s first portable biometric activated ID speed pass
19 October, 2007
category: Biometrics
SmartMetric has released its Biometric ID Pass, a self-contained ID-checking system designed to speed up access to facilities. The employee simply touches his ID card with his finger. If it’s his card, he’ll be granted entrance. If it’s a stolen card, the fingerprints won’t match and he’ll be denied entry.
SURFSIDE, FL–SmartMetric announced the newest in its line of portable biometric identity card products. The SmartMetric Biometric ID Pass uses the most advanced technology for scanning a person’s fingerprint. A thin line of silicon in embedded into the surface of the card. An employee just touches the silicon with his or her fingerprint and instantly the card reads the employee’s fingerprint and will then activate the Radio Frequency (RF) transmission to the security desk or door entry system. Compatible with existing standard contactless card doorway systems, the SmartMetric Biometric ID Pass provides Government and Business organizations with a truly affordable and highly secure Biometric employee Identity and Access Control system, the company said at its R&D facility in Surfside, Florida.
As an employee enters the lobby of the building he or she touches the credit card sized card and if it is their card, a signal is sent to the security desk. Much the same way the speed pass works on toll gates but with the advanced security of it being controlled by the user’s biometrics – their fingerprint. If the card is lost it can not be used by anyone else unlike existing corporate identity and access control cards. Mr. Hendrick, the company President, said that SmartMetric portable biometric card will provide the highest level of security while at the same time provide a greater throughput of employees as they enter buildings. He expects that buildings will have a speed pass lane for those issued with the portable biometric card allowing for greater efficiency and accuracy while also providing a superior level of security.
From a security perspective, Mr. Hendrick said the fact that no central database of fingerprints is required, since a person’s fingerprint is stored inside the card, is light years ahead of other biometric systems that rely on central databases of employees’ fingerprints. The card has the smallest fingerprint scanner in the world on super thin layers of circuitry inside the card. SmartMetric has built the world’s smallest and only truly portable biometric scanner allowing for a truly portable on the spot any time, anywhere verification of a person’s identity.
Given the complexities of manufacturing what is in effect a laptop computer smaller then a credit card, the company has had to overcome monumental technical hurdles. With more than 150 active and passive components mounted on four layers of tissue paper thin circuit boards, the company has achieved after more than 8 years of Research & Development what many have said was an impossible dream.
Even after creating the product the company was faced with the technical hurdles in manufacturing the product en-mass. Pushing the envelope even in the field of component assembly, SmartMetric has had to delay its release and rework its product design to allow for mass production. While the company has been forced to delay its launch of its product for 18 months while it overcame mass production issues, the company is pleased that it will now be able to produce a minimum of 1 million cards a month. For further information: www.smartmetric.com.
