French electronics giant Sagem enters New Zealand biometrics market

Published 21 November 2005

Thomas Jefferson said, “Every man has two countries, his own and France.” Well, we’ll see about that. In the meantime, Paris, France-based electronics giant Sagem is eyeing the New Zealand market for possible biometrics installations. The company has just opened a branch office in Auckland. Sagem already has a presence in the two countries, but it is limited to its mobile phones, supplied through Vodafone. New Zealand’s market is small — only four million people — but the company sees plenty of potential in it. The company’s regional manager said that the strength of Sagem was its style. “We are proud to be French, and say we can bring the French touch, which we think is strong in design.” Sagem hopes to make an impact in biometrics, including fingerprints and iris scanning. It has manufactured security systems for the commercial market that are based on fingerprints, rather than access cards. Sagem is bidding for systems being offered for tender by the Customs Service and police.

-for the company’s biometrics offerings read Sagem D”fense S”curit” Web site