IDEX establishes Strategy Advisory Council (press release)
Press release/newsletter to shareholders
IDEX establishes Strategy Advisory Council
Oslo, Norway, 16 January 2014: IDEX establishes a Strategy Advisory Council with the mandate to advise the company on market, technology and strategic trends in the rapidly developing mass market for fingerprint sensors. The market is undergoing a transformation and is expected to show exceptional growth catalysed by Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec and launch of fingerprint sensor-equipped iPhone 5S. The Strategy Advisory Council underpins IDEX’s strategy of establishing a global presence and developing an industry-leading position. The strategy implementation is being accelerated through the recently agreed landmark investment of USD 49 million by Invesco in IDEX, as announced on 3 January 2013.
IDEX appoints Larry Ciaccia, former CEO of AuthenTec to the Strategy Advisory Council. “I am extremely pleased to welcome Larry Ciaccia, the former CEO of AuthenTec, as the first external member of the IDEX Strategy Advisory Council,” said Dr. Hemant Mardia, IDEX CEO. “Larry has led the growth of the leading volume commercial vendor of fingerprint sensors in the industry and was responsible for securing its subsequent sale to Apple which transformed the industry. His wealth of experience in our sector, and successes with AuthenTec, bring invaluable market insight and credibility to IDEX, and I am delighted that Larry has chosen to advise IDEX in our exciting commercialisation phase,” Dr. Mardia added.
Larry Ciaccia said “The market opportunity for fingerprint based biometrics is rapidly accelerating. It is an exciting time in the mobile space, after many years establishing a foundation for the value proposition that represents an optimal intersection of security and user based convenience. I believe that the roadmap and core technology of IDEX represents a unique opportunity to further transform the market and I am excited for this opportunity to work with IDEX to make fingerprint based biometrics a ubiquitous solution for consumers worldwide.”
The Strategy Advisory Council initially comprises Larry Ciaccia, former CEO of AuthenTec; Dr. Ralph Bernstein, CTO of IDEX; Fred Benkley, CTO of IDEX America and Dr. Hemant Mardia, CEO of IDEX. IDEX intends to attract further strategic industry leaders to provide broad market insight as the fingerprint market expands beyond smartphones into smartcards and the Internet of Things.
Larry Ciaccia played a pivotal role in transforming AuthenTec from a start-up into the world’s fingerprint sensor leader and also its subsequent transition to Apple, where the technology has been successfully implemented in the Apple iPhone 5S. Mr. Ciaccia has broad expertise from the semiconductor industry, combined with a very successful track record of growing private and publicly traded businesses.
Dr. Hemant Mardia is CEO of IDEX. Dr. Mardia was formerly CEO of Filtronic Plc, a London Stock Exchange listed business in the telecoms sector. Dr. Mardia has a proven track record in leading high growth technology businesses in emerging sectors at a global level, in executive and technical roles. He has developed strategic partnerships as a supplier of innovative components for tier-one customers. Dr. Mardia has developed international teams, with world-class design and manufacturing capabilities, and has pioneered semiconductor technology for telecoms applications.
Dr. Ralph Bernstein is chief technology officer of IDEX ASA. Dr. Bernstein has extensive experience in biometrics, microsystems and nanotechnology, inter alia from SINTEF, which is is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Dr. Bernstein also holds a part-time adjunct professor position in electronic devices and materials at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU.
Fred Benkley is chief technology officer at IDEX America. He has more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor technology industry ranging from start-ups to large corporations. Mr. Benkley founded Validity Sensors in 2002 where he developed and patented the world’s first flex fingerprint sensor. Prior to Validity, Mr. Benkley founded and ran Metro Engineering, which developed industrial and consumer products. Mr. Benkley is credited for developing more than a dozen patents.
Web: www.idexbiometrics.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/idexasa
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/idex-asa
Press contact
Hemant Mardia, CEO, +44 7788 922 171, hm(at)idexbiometrics.com
About IDEX
IDEX ASA specialises 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.
IDEX ASA (ticker IDEX) is a Norwegian public company listed at the Oslo Axess marketplace on the Oslo Børs (Oslo stock exchange). For more information, please visit www.idexbiometrics.com or contact IDEX at mailbox@idexbiometrics.com
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