The European Commission Directorate General for Home

Affairs has awarded a consortium of Accenture, Morpho (Safran) and HP a contract to maintain the European Visa Information System (VIS). The contract is for three years with a pos-sible one-year extension to a maxi-mum value of E70m.

VIS is at the core of the visa application process to the Schengen area and enables Schengen states to store and exchange alpha-numeric and biometric data relating to visa applications. As a component of VIS, a biometric matching system enables the iden-tification of visa applicants through matching biometric data, such as fingerprints, to identi-ties to establish and verify visa applications.

The project will support the exchange of visa data across border management authorities by ensuring the processing capacity of the system and the availability of high levels of search and

matching capabilities required for visa applica-tions. The VIS system went live in October 2011 and has since experienced increased usage by consulates in non-EU countries and external border crossing points of Schengen states.

Accenture will assume overall project responsibilities, overseeing the integration of functional, technical and operational mainte-nance to the VIS, and Morpho will provide biometric matching services.

Accenture and Morpho (as the Bridge Consortium) have worked with the European Commission since 2007 on the development and support of the biometric matching engine of the VIS.

HP has worked with the European Commission since 2005, deploying the HP Converged Infrastructure solution for the VIS as well as the archiving and back-up solution.

Daon and WCC Smart Search and Match will provide IT support and services as subcon-tractors to Accenture.

European Commission awards Accenture, Morpho and HP visa system deal

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News

European Commission awards Accenture, Morpho and HP visa system deal 1

Infrared facial scans to ID Heathrow passengers 1

FIDO Alliance to boost online authentication 2

Hitachi develops biometric digital signature tech 2

US startup seeks funds for biometric password USB kit 2

Telekom Deutschland signs up Atos Worldline for cardless POS 2

AOptix to research mobile biometrics for US DoD 3

Cognitec video analytics for anonymous face recognition 3

Government is biggest spender on biometrics in SEA and ANZ 3

Researchers find biometrics central to developing countries 12

Biometrics to address public sector absenteeism 12

Ghana adopts biometrics in many spheres 12

Biometrics underpin elections and benefits in The Philippines 12

Features

Iris biometrics: a legal invasion of privacy?

Steve Gold looks at the legal and privacy issues surrounding iris biometrics technologies. 5

Biometrics is dead, long live Natural ID

Sebastien Taveau, Validity, discusses the architectures available for capturing the ‘natural ID’ or biometrics of consumers on mobile devices. 9

Regulars

Events Calendar 3

News in Brief 4

Product News 4

Company News 4

Comment 12

Contents

biometric TECHNOLOGY

ISSN 0969-4765 March 2013 www.biometrics-today.com

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YInfrared facial scans to ID Heathrow passengers

Heathrow Terminal 1 passengers are being invited to take part in a

two-month ‘self-boarding’ trial in part-nership with South African Airways, using infrared biometrics, developed by Atkins with HAL, to help them board their flight more efficiently. PASS uses infra-red facial recognition technology developed by Aurora to capture passengers’ biometric data in any lighting condition.

When passengers reach the ‘self-boarding’ gate, they pass through an automatic electronic barrier, which takes an infrared scan of their face. This information is checked against the

biometric data that was taken at the check-in stage. When the two sets of data scans are matched, the barrier opens and the passenger can pass through and board their flight.

Biometric technology has had mixed fortunes at UK borders. The iris recognition system (IRIS) was scaled back in 2012 and enrolment rooms at Heathrow airports closed. A UK Border Agency spokesperson said at the time: “While IRIS was good technology at the time, faster and more reliable options are now avail-able that will be rolled out across the border.”

According to the Birmingham Mail almost 300 passengers walked through Birmingham Airport

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