{"id":547851,"date":"2006-01-27T06:43:33","date_gmt":"2006-01-27T06:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/547851-biometric-boost-for-retail-security.html"},"modified":"2006-01-27T06:43:33","modified_gmt":"2006-01-27T06:43:33","slug":"biometric-boost-for-retail-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/547851-biometric-boost-for-retail-security.html","title":{"rendered":"Biometric boost for retail security"},"content":{"rendered":"

This follows the successful implementation of similar technology in parts of the US. <\/font><\/p>\n

Fingerprint-IT director Bryan Kimmel argues that many South Africans would benefit from the biometric pay point technology, which is based on the company’s BioIdentity solution, unveiled in October. <\/font><\/p>\n

Kimmel believes the biometrics-based electronic pay point system has the potential to reduce debit withdrawal charges and eliminate fraud to some extent for the lower end of the market. <\/font><\/p>\n

It provides transaction facilitation through the authentication or identification of individuals. <\/font><\/p>\n

He explains that BioIdentity is a third-party verification and identity register, which requires that clients submit their identity details to a vendor. <\/font><\/p>\n

The information is captured and submitted to the register over the Internet, via GPRS technology. <\/font><\/p>\n

Fingerprint scanner<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

"The client initiates a new transaction when purchasing something or when his identity has been confirmed. He does this by placing his finger on a fingerprint scanner, and BioIdentity then returns a positive, negative or unknown result." <\/font><\/p>\n

The scanner, Sagem’s "BIO930 by Morphotouch second-generation MT2G", processes transactions through a 32-bit RISC ARM9 microprocessor and analyses fingerprints in less than a second. <\/font><\/p>\n

The terminal communicates via its V32 Bis modem and offers a wider range of use in the GSM\/GPRS version, and can also consult a server centre via a radio link. <\/font><\/p>\n

Fingerprint-IT and Sagem are working together to integrate the BioIdentity solution with Sagem’s terminal. <\/font><\/p>\n

In SA, say Kimmel, biometric retail technology could also benefit split families, where often the breadwinner is a migrant labourer living away from home. <\/font><\/p>\n

They can now empower family members to shop legally on their accounts without giving them their ATM card or PIN code. <\/font><\/p>\n

For retailers, he adds, benefits lie in quicker checkout and customer convenience, as well as customer pattern tracking, which allows directed and promotional advertising. <\/font><\/p>\n

The system also provides age verification for the sale of tobacco, alcohol and movies. <\/font><\/p>\n

According to the Food Marketing Institute, an international trade group representing retailers, the global use of biometric payment systems by retailers increased by 35% from spring 2004 to spring 2005. <\/font><\/p>\n

Wireless environment<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

BMI-TechKnowledge analyst Richard Hurst believes biometric-based payment systems are likely to gain popularity as retailers move to a wireless environment, seeking cost-effective wireless solutions. <\/font><\/p>\n

He maintains that SA’s inadequate and expensive bandwidth would not be an inhibiting factor for such solutions, as they are not data-intensive. <\/font><\/p>\n

As opposed to the traditional speedpoint used for card transactions, says Hurst, a GSM\/GPRS biometric-based payment system cuts out the cost of a fixed-line call. <\/font><\/p>\n

Dimension Data GM of security solutions Gary Middleton agrees that biometric growth will be seen in niche applications such as retail. <\/font><\/p>\n

"We aren’t seeing any corporate or enterprise investment in biometrics for desktop applications," he says, adding that issues of cost and questions about accuracy seem to have an inhibitive effect. <\/font><\/p>\n

It could take time before such technology gains widespread acceptance, Middleton warns. <\/font><\/p>\n

"We’ve seen it with credit and debit cards. It took years for people to start trusting the technology and for it to gain credibility." <\/font><\/p>\n

INet-Bridge<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg-based Fingerprint-IT, in conjunction with Sagem, is preparing to roll-out what it claims to be the first commercially available non-card-based biometrics electronic pay point solution to the South African retail market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}