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Biometric Technology Today • February 20056
BUSINESS WATCH
acquisition
Precise Biometrics snaps upFyrplus TeknikIn a bid to enhance its position within the multi-biometrics and smart ID cards market, PreciseBiometrics has acquired 100% of the shares inSwedish IT consultancy Fyrplus Teknik.
Through the acquisition, Precise Biometricswill boost its annual sales revenues by about SEK20 million (US$2.87 million). In addition theacquisition will increase its employees to 60,almost twice the size of the original company.
According to Christer Bergman, president andCEO of Precise Biometrics: “Through theacquisition, Precise Biometrics supplements itscore operations within fingerprint technologyand smart cards with additional skills andknowledge within multi-biometrics and theimplementation of biometric solutions.”
Fyrplus Teknik has experience in multi-biometric projects which combine differentmodalities, such as fingerprint, iris and facialrecognition. Fyrplus Teknik has implementedprojects in the travel, pharmaceuticals andhealthcare sectors, predominantly in Scandinavia.
Lennart Olsson, president of Fyrplus Tekniksaid: “We have long worked in partnership withPrecise Biometrics in various projects, includingScandinavian Airline Services. There is a great dealof synergy between us which will now add value tothe group, for example in the development ofbiometric solutions and customer relations.”
The companies claim that the market forbiometric solutions is developing rapidly and thatincreasing numbers of projects call for multi-biometric solutions. There are several nationalprojects on the table now, the companies said,which involve a combination of multiple biometrictechnologies. These include, for example, the newEU passport and the national ID card in Finland.
The acquisition was completed on 17 January2005 and is being financed with cash. The purchaseprice totalled SEK 5-7 million (US$718,000-US$1million), partly conditional on future profits.Fyrplus Teknik had sales of SEK 26.8 million(US$3.85 million) for 2003/2004 (16 months)with a profit of SEK 1.5 million (US$215,000)after financial items. Precise Biometrics' sales for thefirst nine months of 2004 were SEK 22.6 million(US$3.24 million). Lennart Olsson will remainpresident of Fyrplus Teknik.
Precise Biometrics also confirmed separatelythat it had received an order from SafeNet for7,500 Precise100 MC fingerprint and card readersand Match-on-Card software. This represents acontinuation of a deployment to a governmentagency by SafeNet and Precise Biometrics. PreciseBiometrics received the two previous orders fromDatakey, recently acquired by SafeNet. The
government agency is deploying SafeNet smartcards and related software along with PreciseBiometrics readers to authenticate employees totheir IT infrastructure.Contact: Christer Bergman at Precise Biometrics,Tel: +46 730 35 67 26, email:[email protected] Olsson at Fyrplus Teknik,Tel: +46 730 39 10 04, email: [email protected]
alliance
Pay By Touch forms alliancewith CertegyPay By Touch, a company focused on offeringfingerprint-based payment options for shoppers,has announced a marketing alliance withCertegy, a Florida-based transaction processingcompany that provides cheque risk managementand cheque-cashing services. The new alliancewill allow Pay By Touch users to cash governmentand payroll cheques at Pay By Touch merchantlocations across the United States.
According to the suppliers, the one-timeenrolment for the Pay By Touch/Certegy chequecashing service takes about a minute atparticipating retailers. Once users are verifiedwith their government-issued ID and socialsecurity number, they simply scan their fingerand add a search number (usually a phonenumber) to create a Pay By Touch wallet.
Whenever a customer wants to cash a cheque,they place their finger on the scanner and entertheir search number. The biometric informationauthenticates the customer's identity and Certegyuses its risk modelling technology to authorise thetransaction. The result is increased customerloyalty and reduced exposure to fraudulenttransactions, the companies claim.
The Pay By Touch/Certegy cheque-cashingservice is an additional service to the Pay By Touchcore offering, which gives customers the option ofpaying for purchases using their fingerprint linkedto their financial accounts and loyalty programmes.In a recent announcement, Pay By Touch said thatall Piggly Wiggly shoppers in South Carolina andSoutheast Georgia will be able to pay for theirgroceries using its system from May.
Since July 2004, Piggly Wiggly customers infour South Carolina stores have been using Pay ByTouch to buy groceries. Research revealed that50% of Piggly Wiggly's Pay By Touch users enjoythe convenience of not having to present cards,cheques, or their PFC/Greenbax rewards cards atthe point of sale. Users also indicated that theywanted to see Pay By Touch in more stores.
Contact: Caroline Powell for Pay By Touch,Tel: +44 20 8297 5388, email:[email protected]
C o m p a n yn e w s
• Veridicom International hasventured into the Brazilian marketpartnering with a domestictechnology integrator,Inteligencia Informatica.Inteligencia Informatica is asoftware integration specialistwith approximately 250employees and several officesacross Brazil. Inteligencia’scustomers include the FirstRegional Court where 400 courtpersonnel are using Veridicomfingerprint sensors to authenticatetheir identity.
• Bioscrypt has announced thepurchase of fingerprint matchingalgorithm technology from AretéAssociates (Areté) for US$1million. This technology includesall patents and trade secretsrelated to Bioscrypt’s algorithmthat were not previouslypurchased by Bioscrypt as part ofits acquisition of BiometricIdentification Inc in 2001.Bioscrypt had previously licensedthis technology under anexclusive License Agreement withAreté, which required royaltypayments totalling US$3.16million be paid to Areté over thelife of the agreement. Followingthis transaction, Bioscrypt willhave no further financialobligation to Areté. Theacquisition includes eight patentsand nine patent applications, ofwhich several provide extensivepatent protection for Bioscrypt’spattern-based fingerprintmatching technology.
• The Chinese Patent Office,under the State IntellectualProperty Office, has grantedSecuGen a 20-year patent for itskey fingerprint recognition sensorhardware patent.
• Smart card manufacturerAxalto and Intercede haveannounced their collaboration inthe smart card and identitymanagement market with acombined solution designed toenable businesses, governmentagencies and educationalestablishments to protect theirPCs, networks, virtual privatenetworks (VPNs), buildings andfacilities. The combined offeringprovides lifecycle management ofsmart cards, digital certificates,Open Platform applets and
biometric credentials.
