December 19, 2002
Study: Homeland Security to Spur Biometrics Growth
By Ryan Naraine
A technology research think-thank believes increased government
spending by the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security will
push growth in the biometric sector in the second half of 2003.
Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based research firm Allied Business Intelligence (ABI)
said the use of biometrics -- authentication technology that uses
biological characteristics -- by government agencies like the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will lend credibility to the
burgeoning industry.
The INS plans to spend big to integrate biometrics into its systems to
monitor U.S. borders, technology that will include fingerprint scanning,
face-recognition and other biological characteristics to identify felons
within a database.
This increased dependence on the technology to enhance U.S.
homeland security operations is expected to serve as the "catalyst"
for the biometric industry, according to the study.
"The U.S. government remains the largest potential buyer of biometric
technology...Deployments of biometric technology can occur earlier in
2003, depending on how quickly biometric vendors can integrate
biometric technology into legacy security systems," said John Chang,
the ABI analyst who wrote the report.
The ABI study found that government agencies garnered 15 percent
of the total biometric industry revenue for 2002 and the sector is
expected to generate $153 million in total revenue by the end of
2003.
Between 2000 and 2007, ABI is projecting total biometric revenue will
grow almost 50 percent, ABI said.
Biometrics (define) is generally used to describe the study of
measurable biological characteristics. In computer security, biometrics
refers to authentication techniques that rely on measurable physical
characteristics that can be automatically checked. Examples include
computer analysis of fingerprints or speech.
Industry watchers believe biometrics will play a major role in the
computers, especially in the areas of e-commerce authentication.
internetnews.com
steve |
