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Biometric leopards?

ACE Partners put the cats among the pigeons at Ifsec.

Two of SA's leading suppliers of access control and T&A equipment launched new products at the UK's Ifsec show in May. Their success underlines the fact that the local industry can compete head-on with the rest of the world.

For the Ideco Group and Turnstar it was an opportunity to showcase working biometric solutions interfaced with turnstiles at Europe's largest security exhibition.

Ideco launched three new products at Ifsec: the Sagem MorphoAccess 100 (MA100) fingerprint reader; the Ideco Intelligent Power Supply (IIPS); and Ideco-MorphoAccess-Legic Integration (IMLI.)

Also on show for the first time in Europe was Turnstar's Tribune turnstile. Fitted with a Sagem MorphoAccess fingerprint reader, this maximum-security turnstile attracted particular interest from military and government users who stressed the importance now being placed in Europe on the need for increasingly rigorous controls over access. In fact, immediate reactions to the Tribune were so positive that two government ministries requested units for testing. Mark Eardley of Turnstar says, "This is an exceptional opportunity to establish the Tribune as the turnstile for high security government installations."

Representing a new generation of turnstiles, the Tribune is designed specifically for use with biometric ID systems and delivers the strictest controls over access. The significance of the Tribune as a new product was emphasised by its selection at Ifsec as a finalist in the British Security Industry Association's Security Innovation Awards as Best New Physical Security Product.

While impressed by the Tribune's ability to provide 100% validation of entry and exit transactions, there was some surprise that its development was a South African initiative. Eardley takes up on this issue of Europe's perceptions of Africa: "Our branding at Ifsec had to counter the belief that all things African are somehow backwards. We needed a presence that would drive home the fact that these products are not only tough but also highly advanced technically.

"So, we used a wildlife theme of a snarling leopard as our central branding, reinforcing conventional ideas of Africa as tough, primeval, dangerous. As a foil to this traditional image, we created the world's first biometric leopards. We had two girls in catsuits with the leopard markings replaced by fingerprints."

The two companies were joined on the stand by Abacos Automation of the UK, Hydrea AS of Norway and representatives from Biometric Security AG, the Ideco Group's recently established operation in Zurich. Eardley explains, "These organisations distribute Turnstar and Ideco products right across Europe and give us the sales and support infrastructure necessary to compete more effectively in this market."

The Turnstar and Ideco distributors for Continental Europe were also encouraged by the reactions of visitors from their regions. Sonnove Midtbo of Hydrea says that, "Most visitors were certainly from the UK, but we were happy to meet buyers from Scandinavia and the Baltic states who truly valued the quality and proven success of the solutions on display." These positive reactions were echoed by Walter Guttinger of Biometric AG: "Of course, the European security and access market is mature and sophisticated, so it was good to demonstrate that Ideco and Turnstar can deliver products that are surely appropriate for Europe. Also, we offer certain improvements that exceed what is available from European suppliers."

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