BiometricsAn HS Daily Wire Q&A with IBG's co-founder Raj Nanavati

International Biometric Group, LLC draws on its experience, vendor-independent perspective, and extensive industry contacts to help a broad range of government and private-sector clients to evaluate, design, and deploy biometric solutions. New York-based IBG believes itself to be one of the sole firms in the biometrics industry with the ability to leverage such a wide range of expertise, including services in advanced technology research, consulting, testing and evaluation, and systems integration.

HS Daily Wire: Please briefly profile your company for our subscribers.

Raj Nanavati: Founded in 1996, IBG is a for-profit, independent, privately held firm which operates mainly in North America and Europe, but also in Asia and the Middle East. Our services in support of government agencies, private-sector companies, and vendors fall into the three functional areas systems integration, consulting, and advanced technology research.

As vendor consultants, we offer strategic guidance and support. For example, an international company may wish to launch fingerprint products in the US. We would provide them with information and advice on the market forecast the market structure in the U.S., on working with re-sellers and partners, and on negotiating government requirements - all those kinds of things.

Daily Wire: Do you then go on to represent the company in the United States?

Nanavati: We specifically do not represent this or any other company. There is no long-term relationship, no revenue base, no commission or anything else of the kind, deriving from a client. For us it’s a consulting gig, nothing more — whether for the Department of Defense, or a biometric vendor, or whomever. We provide objective guidance but we do not become agents or representatives in any sense, sales or otherwise.

Because of our significant government engineering and policy experience and given the fact that we’re so well plugged into all of the government programs, standards bodies, and conferences — and because we’ve been providing biometric services for more than a decade — for any agency, company, vendor, or anyone else needing to understand what’s going on, we can fully prepare them quickly and comprehensively. Instead of government organizations having to spend a year or two orienting themselves to be able to focus their efforts, we can come on board and in a few weeks provide information that would take them significantly longer to assemble on their own. We’ve done just this for hundreds of customers, at this point.

Daily Wire: So the other two areas support your main thrust, which