BiometricsMalaysia renwes Unisys contract

Good news for Unisys. The Malaysian government has renewed its contract with Unisys Malaysia, an outfit of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Unisys, to continue work on the national ID card (MyKad), issued to Malaysian citizens. Unisys Asia South general manager and vice president, Scott Whyman, said the Malaysian government has used the company’s services for the ninth consecutive year to support Malaysia MyKad multi-application smart card, which uses advanced technology, including biometrics, to provide a single authentication credential for Malaysia citizens. “The ability to access bank accounts, health services, public transport and other functionalities makes the MyKad the largest deployment today of a government identity smartcard worldwide, and to date, Unisys and a consortium of companies, under the MyKad project, have deployed more than 22 million national ID smartcards nationwide,” he said. He explained that Unisys is to continue providing services that allow the MyKad application to run 24 hours, 7 days a week, at the Government Service Center datacentre and 210 branches nationwide and to make the MyKad application available to support all branch requirements.

Unisys has implemented similar biometric and identity management solutions for government agencies around the world. Examples include the U.S. Registered Traveler pilot program, the HANIS (Home Affairs National Identification System) project for the Department of Homeland Affairs in South Africa, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and the a six-month biometrics field trial for Citizen and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Biometrics and accuracy

According to the company, MyKad uses advanced chip and biometric technology that enables more than 22 million Malaysians to transact securely and conveniently with the government and commercial businesses, through the use of a single smart card.

Whyman explained that Unisys “played a pivotal role in the development of the MyKad project which commenced in 1999 as the master systems integrator for the MyKad implementation.”

As the single point of contact between the Malaysian government and four other solution providers under the Government Multipurpose Card (GMPC) Consortium, Unisys rolled out the on-time delivery of the multi-purpose and highly secure MyKad, said Whyman.

Unisys Malaysia public sector director Tom Fernandez said: “Our support for the Malaysia Government has gone from strength to strength each year. It is also strategically important for Unisys and reflects a strong international commitment to the public sector in the Asia Pacific region and worldwide. Our extended support for the Malaysia MyKad initiative reflects our dedication to the success of the MyKad project to date.”