Biometrics Break on Through

Lower production costs, smaller profiles and improved accuracy all are factors making biometric authentication solutions a likely choice for many providers seeking to promote security in the new wireless e-commerce (m-commerce) marketplace.

One of the leading companies in the field of biometrics, Identix, recently announced a new secure-transaction service called itrust, which is being funded with $3.75 million from Motorola Ventures, the handset manufacturer's venture capital arm. Itrust will provide secure biometric authenticated-transaction services for the Internet and m-commerce through a server-based security infrastructure. Motorola and Identix previously worked together in the development of an industry standard in fingerprint security employing Motorola's ImageMOS integrated circuits.

"We've been working on this for 14-16 months," said Grant Evans, Identix vice president and general manager of the IT security and itrust divisions. "Everybody concurs that things are going to a central host-based system, not shrink-wrapped software.

"Authentication security is becoming more and more vital in the marketplace."

Security can be enhanced through various controls, including access time.

"For instance, you can't print it, copy it, or forward it," Evans said. "You can only look at it for an hour and then it evaporates."

Using Motorola sensors, itrust systems aren't used in phones yet, but the technology is promising.

Roger Janikowski, Motorola business-development manager for image capture operations, said the DFR-300 fingerprint reader is about 3«mm thick.

"The optical and the capacitive systems are the two strong ones vying against each other in this market area," Janikowski said. "We think the optical system has advantages that are very clear and distinct, particularly when you have a lot of mechanical mishandling."

Optical readers, such as the DFR-300, photograph the fingerprint from a smaller sensor than capacitive readers use. And less silicon equals lower cost, he said.

As for accuracy, "We've only had a few cases where I can say the enrollment was difficult on a certain finger, and it had to do with scarring," he said.

The July announcement of itrust happened to coincide with another biometric company's joint technology agreement. AuthenTec, maker of the patented FingerLoc sensor technology, and Saflink, a biometric software company, signed a joint technology-marketing agreement.

"It has an application anywhere you're using a PIN number or a password," said Kurt Kyvik, AuthenTec director of marketing.

Other applications include per-sonalization of streaming content, limited access to vending services and downloading personal address books.

"All things that require a personalization of the phone, or security, are possible," he said.

AuthenTec's technology for fingerprint identification is based not on optical or capacitive sensors. Instead, the FingerLoc sensor is a silicon chip that includes a sensing array. The sensor ignores external, damaged skin and reads the secondary layer, where prints are found in pristine condition. To read the print, an array of tiny antennas reads the thin layer of saline liquid that resides between the living skin and the dead skin on a person's fingertip.

"Most sensors fail to enroll between 10% and 15% of the population," he said. "That is based mostly on their skin condition. Our technology, in side-by-side testing (enrolls) up to 99% of the population."

Kyvik predicts that as cost dips, use of biometric devices will rise. AuthenTec is currently in talks with handset manufacturers, but Kyvik could not name any specific companies.

AuthenTec displayed FingerLoc at PC Expo in New York and will show it at fall Comdex.

Handsets might include biometric devices as early as 2001 or 2002, according to Motorola's Janikowski.

"I think it will start taking place next year," he said. "I would say that 2002 will be a very large and interesting year in the marketplace in terms of adaptation rates. That's my prognostication of the market, and is not necessarily speaking from Motorola's stance."