• AuthenTec and UPEK merge to form formidable biometrics provider

    Florida-based AuthenTec merges with fingerprint biometric company UPEK; AuthenTec will be expanding its intellectual property to nearly 200 issued and filed U.S. patents, “the largest patent portfolio in the industry today,” the company says; UPEK had $18 million in revenues last year and has made $11.7 million in the first half of 2010

  • U.K. Borders Agency in immigration biometrics deal with IBM

    The deal is valued at £191 million, and the government says it will save tax payers £50 million. or nearly 20 percent, from the contract price with IBM by cutting aspects of the planned system that were no longer needed

  • Mobile biometric and document device for borders

    NEC shows a tablet computing device for biometric identity enrollment and verification using multiple biometrics — and which can also read travel documents; the company says the device will be sold to border control agencies

  • Until biometric standards are developed, passwords should be retained

    Biometric technologies offer many advantages, but until universal standards are set, the use of passwords should not be abandoned; the permanence of biometric characteristics creates a situation in which if someone were to intercept or hack one’s biometric data, a person’s entire livelihood would be at stake, as opposed to a simple password change

  • TrendBiometric companies see government as the driver of future market growth

    Observers say that most of the growth in the biometric market will be driven by government spending; many still agree that the marketplace for biometrics is likely to continue to grow, but one of the bigger points of contention is that some are arguing that the growth will not be in United States but more likely in Central and South America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia