IDEX and BIO-key sign license agreement to deliver advanced biometric solutions for mobility market
BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB: BKYI) and IDEX ASA (OSE: IDEX) have entered into a license agreement and will collaborate to deliver a sensor-to-server infrastructure solution for trustworthy, yet simple and low-cost, in device and online authentication for consumer applications and in particular the smartphone, tablet, and PC markets. The software and hardware combination will be capable of delivering the most accurate, flexible and cost-efficient fingerprint biometric solutions available. BIO-key is a global leader in fingerprint biometric identification solutions, advanced mobile authentication and identity assurance technologies and IDEX is a leader in low cost, high quality fingerprint sensor technologies.
IDEX ASA has since 1997 been a pioneering company in the field of capacitive fingerprint sensing technology offering its award-winning miniaturized SmartFinger swipe and touch fingerprint sensors for mass market applications. SmartFinger is ideally suited for smartphones, tablets, PCs and other devices. BIO-key develops and supplies its NIST-validated, highly accurate fingerprint matching software and WEB-key secure multifactor authentication platform. When combined, the IDEX/BIO-key solutions will provide handset, tablet, PC as well as other device manufacturers and value-added resellers the most accurate and efficient identity assurance and fingerprint authentication available – both on device and in the cloud. Gartner analyst Gregg Kreizman predicted recently that by 2020, 60% of all digital identities interacting with enterprises would come from an external provider, and fellow Gartner analyst Ant Allan predicts that by 2015, 30% of users accessing corporate networks or high-value Web applications from smartphones or tablets will use biometric authentication. This is the market that IDEX and BIO-key are positioned to capitalize on.
“The mobile market is rapidly adopting fingerprint sensors for convenient user authentication, leading to secure payment solutions and opening up opportunities for new identity-based applications. IDEX and BIO-key offer a combined solution for secure user identification, leveraging IDEX’ best in class fingerprint sensors, a new generation of powerful recognition algorithms, together with proven BIO-key secure multifactor authentication software. The combined solution and IP creates the potential for significant value-added services to be developed with market leading customers,” stated Dr. Hemant Mardia, CEO of IDEX.
“IDEX chose BIO-key after an extensive evaluation of the available fingerprint matching algorithms in the market to pair with our leading sensor products, and feel that BIO-key’s accuracy in mobile applications, combined with their vision for advanced secure biometric systems, make them the ideal partner for IDEX,” said Ralph W. Bernstein, CTO of IDEX
“This is a significant validation of BIO-key’s commitment to mobile and the consumer market as a core component of our overall strategy. The out-of-the-box combination of IDEX’s outstanding sensor technology with BIO-key highly regarded algorithm technology promises to be disruptive in the marketplace. Our combined strengths solve for technological, architectural and economic weaknesses in contemporary fingerprint deployments and will provide higher fingerprint accuracy rates, at faster matching speeds, in more operating system environments, with more efficient yields and costs,” stated Mike DePasquale, BIO-key Chairman and CEO. “With market estimates approaching billions of biometrically enabled mobile devices over the coming years, we believe this alliance will command a significant market share, and change the dialog about what biometrics can do for mobile identity trust and security.”
“The consumer market for mobile biometric authentication is emerging quickly,” said Jim Sullivan, BIO-key Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. “That market will rely on flexible solutions that can securely connect the endpoint fingerprint scanner devices into the existing Identity and Access Management (IAM) infrastructures that enterprises, mobile carriers and online service providers already operate. BIO-key has longstanding partnerships with the leading IAM platforms such as CA Siteminder, IBM ISAM/ESSO, Oracle Access Manager, major EHR platforms from EPIC and AllScripts, and patient ID solutions from Healthcare-ID. As a result, the combined IDEX/BIO-key solution will be quickly deployable for enterprises who want trustworthy and simple authentication options for their users’ devices. We will give our mutual customers the best of all worlds – for example, in-device FIDO (Fast Identity Online) authentication, but with the confidence and usability of BIO-key’s NIST-tested matching inside, as well as ‘FIDO plus Trust’ with a trusted service performing biometric identity proofing before activating a user via FIDO. The combined solution will also work seamlessly with our recently announced OpenID Multi-Factor Authentication Solution (MFAS), developed in collaboration with InterDigital.”
31 March 2014
IDEX ASA
Contacts:
BIO-key International, Inc.: Jay Meier, VP Corp. Dev., Jay.meier@bio-key.com,
+1-651-789-6116
IDEX ASA: Hemant Mardia, CEO, hm@idexbiometrics.com, +44-7788-922-171
About BIO-key
BIO-key International, Inc., headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, develops and delivers advanced identification solutions to commercial and government enterprises, integrators, and custom application developers. BIO-key’s award-winning, high performance, scalable, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy biometric finger identification technology accurately identifies and authenticates users of wireless and enterprise applications. The solutions are used in local embedded OEM products as well as some of the world’s largest identification deployments to improve security, guarantee identity, and help reduce identity theft. BIO-key’s technology is offered directly or by market leading partners around the world. www.bio-key.com
About IDEX
IDEX ASA at Fornebu, Norway, specializes in fingerprint imaging and recognition technology. IDEX’s vision is to ensure individuals a safe, secure, and user-friendly use of personal ID. IDEX has developed the award-winning SmartFinger technology platform based on the Company’s core intellectual property, including the patented fingerprint imaging principle, sensing scheme and chip design. Combined with core software solutions for imaging and authentication, the SmartFinger technology enables on-device enrollment, template storage and verification within the very same module. SmartFinger solutions can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of embedded applications such as mobile phones, one-time password devices, Smartcards, payment and ID cards, payment terminals, access control devices and biometric security and login tokens. www.idexbiometrics.com
BIO-key safe harbor statement
Certain statements contained in this notice may be construed as “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”). The words “estimate,” “project,” “intends,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the “safe-harbor” provisions of the Act. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our history of losses and limited revenue, our ability to develop new products and evolve existing ones, wider market acceptance of biometric technologies, our ability to raise additional financing, our ability to attract and retain key personnel. For a more complete description of these and other risk factors that may affect the future performance of BIO-key International, Inc., see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements whether to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or otherwise.
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