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Face to face with Ideco Vhonani Mufamadi

Ideco, a privately owned Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) group of companies, is the main distributor in southern Africa for Sagem, a developer of fingerprint technologies, and operates the sole licensed Sagem service and repair centre in southern Africa. Hi-Tech Security Solutions interviewed Ideco CEO Vhonani Mufamadi

Ideco CEO, Vhonani Mufamadi

Q. What is the current state of the South African market for applications of biometrics technology?

A. The market is booming. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, biometrics - and particularly fingerprint technology - provides a package of benefits that make this most cost-effective option for many applications. Secondly, the range of applications is growing rapidly, fuelled by increasing security concerns.

Q. What sort of growth do you anticipate?

A. I can best answer that by quoting the findings of the International Biometric Group (IBG), which has conducted a number of comprehensive market surveys, the latest of which covers the period up to 2007. One of the survey's findings is that global biometric revenues are forecast to increase from US $601 million in 2002 to more than $4 billion by 2007; that is over a six-fold growth in five years.

Q. Is that for all biometric technologies?

A. Yes it is, but the market for fingerprint-based technologies, including both finger-scan and Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS), is estimated to have accounted for over 77% of 2002 industry revenues, far and away the largest technology segment. We see nothing on the horizon that is likely to challenge this dominance.

Q. Not iris scanning?

A. Iris-scan is unquestionably a good technology, for which the IBG survey predicts continued growth, but for most applications, fingerprint technology is more practical and user friendly. The uniqueness of each person's fingerprint makes this quite simply the most secure, efficient and cost-effective way to verify a person's identity at access or monitoring points.

Q. Do you not encounter resistance from people who feel their fingerprints may be misused?

A. This is not a big problem. There will always be a few people who object to any kind of identification, but most realise that good security benefits all stakeholders in an organisation and are fully prepared to co-operate. Most people, in fact, prefer the fingerprint - after all they cannot leave it behind in a pocket of the clothes they wore the previous day.

Q. You mentioned that the figures you quoted are international figures. Is South Africa typical of the international market?

A. No, not at all. South Africa is, in fact, at the forefront of world usage of fingerprints.

Q. The main local users, presumably, are the police.

A. SAPS (the South African Police Services) certainly is the major user of Sagem technology, but there are many other users, large, medium and small. Among the organisations that are Ideco reference sites and users of the Sagem technology, are the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Transport - for drivers' licences - and by the Department of Social Development, which pays out some three million pensions and other grants every month, and numerous private companies in diverse sectors of the market.

Q. Obviously, such large organisations can afford expensive systems, but surely this is less true of smaller organisations, especially private companies?

A. Expensive is a relative term. Potential users should look rather at the cost-effectiveness and speed of return on investment. Eliminating dependence on tokens, magnetic or proximity cards not only reduces the cost and administration required to maintain the system, but, crucially, it can eliminate unauthorised access and fraudulent time clocking. The systems enhance efficiency because virtually instant secure identification reduces delays all along the line; adding new fingerprints to the database is similarly quick and easy. In terms of life-cycle cost, Sagem systems are at the top of the league because they are unmatched in terms of speed, performance and reliability.

Q. That is a big claim.

A. Maybe, but it is fully justified by the facts. Why would the FBI and Scotland Yard, for instance, standardise on systems based on technology developed in France if their home-grown technologies could compete? The facts are that Sagem systems typically operate four times faster than the next best system - they are capable of identifying a print from a database of 96 000 people in under two seconds; security is enhanced because there is no physical token, PIN or password that can be used by unauthorised persons - advanced fake-finger detection capabilities rule out the use of models and photographs.

Q. You mentioned a growing range of applications, what sort of applications?

A. Access control is, of course, a major growth area and, increasingly, this is being linked to time and attendance systems. One of the additional benefits of such systems is that so-called buddy clocking, where an employee's card is clocked in even though he or she is absent from work, is simply not possible.

The new concept of what ABSA chair Dr Danie Cronje calls 'security cities' is another potentially huge market. An example of this is a property development called Midstream Estates, which is being built on 250 hectares at Midrand sub-divided into 1500 stands. To achieve the very high level of security desired by the occupants it has been found necessary to implement cutting-edge technology to control access to the property, as well as to a gym and school located on the property. There are five main access points to the estate, with each entrance and exit having separate vehicle lanes for residents, visitors and contractors, as well as turnstiles for pedestrian traffic. In a development of this size and standing, it is essential to implement technology that enables fast and accurate identification-based access control, while avoiding the high costs and administration that would be required to manage approximately 10 000 access cards. Sagem fingerprint technology was selected as the ideal solution, providing the right mix of security and convenience.

Yet another fast-growing area is so-called 'logical control' of access to personal computers, networks, applications and on-line systems. Increasingly, computers and networks are the repositories of organisations' intellectual capital, making it essential to employ the highest level of security. Sagem's MorphoSmart multipurpose fingerprint-processing peripheral is based on a high-end optical sensor and unique algorithms that make it the most convenient device for controlling access to IT infrastructure, systems and information. A wide number of applications can already be identified in this space, including Single-Sign-On (SSO) for corporate networks, authentication for Internet banking, encryption and decryption of files and folders and other password replacement applications. Password replacement is another growth sector. Managing passwords effectively is a time-consuming and expensive process; costs can be reduced significantly through the use of biometrics instead of passwords, with the added benefit of elevating the level of security.

Q. What are the areas that provide you with the greatest challenges?

A. One of them is the wide variety of climatic conditions one encounters, another is the large proportion of the population is engaged in manual or physical labour, with the result that there is a high percentage of poor quality fingerprints. Ironically, this has helped our cause rather then hindered it. The expertise and experience that Sagem has built up in successfully managing more than 1,5 billion fingerprint records worldwide provide the accuracy, reliability and stability required to operate in difficult conditions that would cause most competing systems to fail. Our rugged, low-maintenance systems operate reliably even in harsh environments such as mines, industrial plants, construction sites, and detention and correctional service facilities.

Q. Are there any areas that you avoid?

A. Not so far. We believe that the combined experience and success of Ideco and our comprehensive dealer network ensure that we can meet the requirements of any customer irrespective of the number of users or the type of environment in which the system must operate. We are reinforced in this belief by the fact that tens of thousands of users throughout southern Africa experience on a daily basis the enormous benefits and peace of mind provided by the reliability of Sagem-based biometric systems.

Q. You have talked about growth in the private sector, so you expect this market to outstrip the public sector.

A. Eventually, but the public sector will always be important. All levels of government are looking for ways to increase efficiency and to reduce fraud and corruption, and one of the primary means of achieving these goals is to enhance security. Last year Ideco won Tender 177 issued by SITA, the State Information Technology Agency, for the supply and support of fingerprint image capturing devices and associated components. All levels of government may buy in terms of this tender. Ideco has also been apppointed by Comsec to supply all government departments with their fingerprint technology requirements.

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