The U.S. Government Printing Office awarded two contracts for the covers of the U.S. passport, which includes contactless smart card chips and antenna, to Gemalto Inc. and Infineon Technologies North America Corp. Both companies had previously supplied smart card chips to the Printing Office for e-passports. Terms of the five-year contracts were not disclosed. As […]

Munich-based Giesecke & Devrient GmbH has received a security certificate from Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) for its STARCOS 3.5 smart card operating system. The smart card OS covers new security functions in e-passports, residence permits and ID cards. The security certificate falls under the BSI Common Criteria Protection Profile (BSI-CC-PP-0056-V2-2012) for machine-readable […]

The Biometrics Institute has released its 2012 Industry Survey, a look at the trends and developments in the industry over the last 12 months. The survey also polls members of the industry to learn what will be the probable developments in the near future. In this third year of the study, the institute has found […]

Reportlinker.com has updated its catalog to include a new report entitled “Global Biometrics Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2017.” The report forecasts this market to reach $10.02 billion by 2014. The report covers some of the drivers in this industry, including limitations of other identification methods and terrorist attacks that have increased the need for better […]

ABI Research released a report finding that over the next five years, the cumulative end user market value for government, health care and citizen IDs will reach more than $86 billion. Governments deployment of national ID cards and e-passports will drive much of this growth, with cumulative shipments of 209 million units in 2011 forecasted […]

Unisys announced a strategic alliance with AOptix.The partnership seeks to bolster the biometric identity verification services offered by the iris provider. Unisys will be integrating AOptix products into the LEIDA (Library of eID Artifacts software) framework, while AOptix brings its InSight iris recognition and face capture systems to the alliance. Unisys works with its clients […]

Technology-focused private equity firm Francisco Partners announced it’s acquisition of Cross Match Technologies, a provider of interoperable biometric identity management systems, applications and services. In business for 16 years, Cross Match has more than 5,000 customers worldwide in a number of industries such as transportation, critical infrastructure, financial services, health care, education, law enforcement and […]

HID Global announced the company has reached a milestone by shipping more than 150 million high-technology electronic passports and credentials to governments for citizen IDs around the world. The company has shipped more than 100 million components used in e-passports by travelers in 30 countries, which comprises approximately 28% of the world’s market. HID Global […]

The Regula e-passport inspection system has received a certification from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) for being compliant to extended access control two test standards. The inspection system, Regula series 7024, manufactured by Latvia based Regula Baltija Ltd. is the first inspection system to receive the conformity certificate for both extended access […]

India’s Ministry of External Affairs is set to launch biometric passports in 2013 to comply with other countries’ requirements to incorporate biometrics into the identification documents, reports The Times of India. The passports currently being issued do not contain any biometric features, but the ministry is installing the required technology to create them. It hopes […]