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RFID and biometric solutions advance

Government and security agencies worldwide are increasingly demanding high-tech solutions to secure their borders. In response, the security industry is developing technology that will prevent rogue elements from crossing international borders without creating bottlenecks.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, entitled Advances in Emerging Biometrics and RFID for Security, finds that the mandatory requirement to use biometric-enabled smartcards to gain access control is a major factor driving this market. Currently, biometrics is used with applications such as national ID cards, passports, visas and driver’s licences.

“Some of the latest security technologies are not flawless,” notes Frost & Sullivan Technical Insights research analyst Deepa R. “In order to reduce false positives and distinctly recognise every individual, the security market has therefore developed a multifactor authentication technology that integrates two different technologies – radio frequency identification (RFID) and biometrics.”

This blended technology offers complex and enhanced security features that will make it difficult to breach. Meanwhile, administrative bodies, along with governments and major participants, are working to ensure that end users do not feel apprehensive about adopting these new solutions.

The access control and user-authentication application remains one of the largest driving factors in the uptake of both RFID and biometrics technologies.

“With the biometrics market moving toward merging multiple modalities for enhanced security, it is expected that iris and facial recognition will gain increased acceptance,” Deepa says. “The RFID market is more focused on improving the performance of existing tags and the standardisation of tags.”

Despite the success of biometrics and RFIDs as standalone technologies in various applications, end users remain unconvinced about their everyday practicability and economic feasibility as a blended solution. While both these technologies come with their individual sets of challenges, the fusion will present several more. Therefore, vendors will need to assuage customer concerns regarding privacy.

RFID technology is undisputedly a significant improvement on conventional barcodes. While barcode reading remains time consuming and requires proper orientation of items to the barcode reader for smooth functioning, RFID tags allow simultaneous reading of multiple items in a stack. Apart from showing fewer false positives than barcode technology, RFID tags and readers also exhibit greater ruggedness and re-usability, since the integrated circuits (ICs) are better protected in a plastic coat.

“Another benefit of RFID technology is its ability to automatically update information about assets,” notes Deepa. “This significantly reduces the staff time required for maintenances and enables increased accuracy and reduced paper work.”

Biometrics also enjoys an advantage over traditional forms of identification like passwords, which complicate processes if the user forgets his or her password. Biometric access such as fingerprint technology eliminates the need for passwords by providing relatively hassle-free access to multiple applications.

“Further, regular passwords hold a higher risk of getting stolen or hacked into, while biometric data remains difficult to clone,” observes Deepa. “With security issues gaining a top priority, biometrics could witness improved adoption due to outstanding features such as ease-of-use, efficiency, user friendliness, and higher levels of safety.”

If you are interested in an analysis, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview, summary, challenges, and latest coverage of Advances in Emerging Biometrics and RFID for Security send an e-mail to Patrick Cairns, Corporate Communications, at patrick.cairns@frost.com.

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