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Biometric Technology Today • July/August 20036
company news
VOICE.TRUST emerges ontoEuropean sceneGerman provider of speaker authenticationsolutions VOICE.TRUST has formalised itspartnership with US company SpeechWorksInternational. The company, which was launchedin 2000, uses SpeechWorks’ SpeechSecure speakerverification technology at the heart of itsbiometric-based authentication solutionVOICE.TRUST Server.
VOICE.TRUST Server is a telephone-basedsystem that combines speech recognition andspeaker verification. After acquiring a caller’s claimedID from the opening dialogue using speechrecognition, SpeechWorks’ speaker verificationtechnology is used to compare the caller’s voiceprintagainst a previously-compiled reference model.
Launched in 2000, VOICE.TRUST is arelatively new player on the speaker verificationblock and has around 25 staff. Its main deals todate have primarily been in Germany – mostnotably with a large German insurance group lastyear. Revenue from this deal enabled thecompany to launch its first packaged productVOICE.TRUST Server, which signified thecompany’s emergence into the biometric market,a spokesman at the company told Btt.
All the deals the company has secured to date usethe technology as a password-reset tool and havebeen with large clients, where the business case forusing the technology is obvious. However, thetechnology can also be used for two-factorauthentication, authentication for remote access orsingle sign-on and PKI profile recovery.
The company is keen to penetrate the Europeanmarket. In particular, the supplier will target the UKand France through a network of local partners.
VOICE.TRUST is putting a great deal of effortinto product development, and is working with anumber of German universities to refine theperformance of its algorithms.
Contact: Hermann Geupel at VOICE.TRUST,Tel: +49 89 127 16 0, email:[email protected]
financial
Viisage secures US$7 millionfrom LauLau Technologies has provided US$7 million indebt financing to Viisage Technology. Under theterms of the agreement, the extra money is to beused by Viisage as working capital and for othergeneral corporate purposes.
Lau Technologies is Viisage’s largest shareholderowning just under one third of Viisage’s outstandingcommon stock. According to Lau chairwoman andchief executive officer Joanna Lau: “As a strongsupporter of Viisage and its strategy, we are pleasedto provide Viisage with this financing package.We…believe that Viisage is making significantstrategic and operational progress, particularly inlight of its planned acquisition of ZN VisionTechnologies…We also continue to believe that themarket Viisage is addressing is extremely large andon the verge of substantial growth.”
Contact: Bill Aulet at Viisage Technology,Tel: +1 978 952 2200, email: [email protected]
company news
Precise Biometrics makesagreementsFollowing a successful working partnership,Precise Biometrics and Schlumberger haverenewed an existing technical agreement anddetailed how the companies will work closer inthe future.
The original agreement between PreciseBiometrics and Schlumberger, announced inFebruary 2002, led to the integration of Precise’sbiometric security solution in Schlumberger’sCyberflex Access 64K smart card.
The renewed agreement between PreciseBiometrics and Schlumberger will includelicensing, marketing and sale worldwide of PreciseMatch-on-Card as an integrated biometric securityoption on the Cyberflex Access 64K card.
Using Precise’s software, Sclumberger will launcha new Java Card biometric application on theCyberflex Access 64K card designed for corporateand network security applications.
Meanwhile, Precise Biometrics and RSA Securityhave announced a strategic partnership that willallow RSA Security customers to add another layerof authentication to their identity managementsystem. RSA Security will market the solution as away to enhance user convenience, reduce costs andincrease user productivity.
Under terms of the agreement, RSA Security willintegrate Precise Biometrics’ Precise BioMatchfingerprint authentication technology with itsSecurID Passage smart card software and the RSASecurID USB Token to enable strong protection andvalidation of a user’s identity based on biometrics.
RSA Security expects to make the integrationwith Precise Biometrics technology available inthe second half of 2003.
Contact: Jonas Andersson at Precise Biometrics,Tel: +46 46 31 11 44, email:[email protected]
BUSINESS WATCH
C o m p a n yn e w s
• Nexus Group International,a 50%-owner of AcsysBiometrics, has announced itsthird quarter results ended 31 March 2003. Revenues forthe period increased by 47% to C$335,339 from C$228,010in the same period last year. Net losses for the quarter,meanwhile, decreased 37% toC$3.2 million from C$5.1million in 2002. Of theserevenues, technology revenuesincreased by C$239,810, orover 360% from the samequarter last year and byC$437,796 in the year to date.
• Iridian Technologies hasappointed Cletus B. Kuhla tothe position of president andchief executive officer. Kuhlawas a co-founder of IriScan,the start-up company whichwas a forerunner to Iridian.Kuhla served in the roles ofvice president and chieftechnology officer for IriScanuntil the company mergedwith one of its licensees,Sensar, to form Iridian inOctober 2000.
• Security Biometrics, aprovider of dynamic signaturesolutions, has made a numberof strategic announcements.First up is a strategicpartnership with Wolf MedicalSystems to develop thin/thickclient mobile and fixedPDA/PC software for anelectronic prescription deliveryand management solution. Thecompany has also made adistribution agreement withGlobal Security Services tointegrate biometric signatureauthentication into solutionsfor secure file transfer and data exchange. Finally, thecompany has signed a verticaldistribution contract with the Pelesys Learning Systems,to integrate, market anddistribute its signatureauthentication solution into asecure extranet log-in systemfor pilots.
