If you've been following the Biometrics industry, you could see this one coming from a mile away:
AuthenTec plugs into Microsofts' software
Fingerprinting to merge with PDAs, phones
BY BRIAN MONROE
FLORIDA TODAY
<<Product testing. Paul Setlak,left, and Julia Setlak test the accuracy of AuthenTec's fingerprint sensor. Microsoft and AuthenTec developed a plug-in that will be bundled with Windows CE, which is used in devices like mobile phones and PDAs. Image © 2004, Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY>>
MELBOURNE -- A local high-tech company is looking to add revenues after signing a deal with Microsoft Corp. to make "smart" electronic products more secure through fingerprint-detecting sensors.
Melbourne-based AuthenTec, in a just-announced deal, is partnering with the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant Microsoft to make it easier for cellular phone, personal digital assistant and other electronics manufacturers to install the company's "biometric" chips to enhance security. The deal is expected to be worth millions of dollars to AuthenTec.
To do that, the two companies developed a software "plug-in" that will be bundled with Windows CE, a streamlined version of the Windows operating system used on many desktop computers.
Windows CE is used in devices like mobile phones, PDAs and other handheld devices. That operating system has plug-ins for a variety of hardware components. A plug-in is a program that allows two pieces of hardware -- like a modem and a computer -- to talk to each other.
Experts said the move will help AuthenTec gain market share in the biometrics arena, which uses a person's unique features -- fingerprint, face or eyes -- to secure access to cars, homes, computers and other electronic devices that store personal information.
The Microsoft deal is, "obviously, incentive for anyone designing a handheld Windows CE device and wants to add biometric security, to choose AuthenTec," said Rich Pell, editor in chief of Electronic Products magazine, a trade publication of technology news for engineers.
He said because the plug-in is already installed, that it will be simpler for companies like Nokia, Sony-Ericsson or Nextel to install AuthenTec chips into their products, which is "certainly good news for AuthenTec. We are talking Microsoft here, so it's pretty significant."
Competing companies likely will have to go through about three years of research and development like AuthenTec went through to get their own plug-in folded into the Windows CE operating system.
To get an idea of what could result from the two companies' collaboration, imagine signing on to your phone's or PDA's Windows software by placing you index finger on a small slide sensor, instead of typing in a password, which another user could steal.
AuthenTec's semiconductor-based sensors read fingerprints below the surface of the skin -- what's known as the "live layer" -- eliminating recognition problems relating to contaminants, such as dirt, dry skin or moisture.
The company, which employs about 50 people locally, builds sensors used in accessories and computers made by original-equipment manufacturers. AuthenTec has fingerprint sensors in desktop, laptop and tablet computers, phones and other electronic devices.
Although the privately owned company, a spinoff of Melbourne-based Harris Corp., does not disclose sales or profit figures, company officials said the latest deal with Microsoft will mean more revenues.
"Windows CE ships today in several million devices, which represent close to a billion dollars, so even if we get a small percentage of that market, we could expect millions of dollars of opportunity," said Steve Mansfield, vice president of marketing for AuthenTec.
"With support for AuthenTec's . . . sensors, Windows CE 5.0 will greatly reduce development time for device-makers seeking to bring biometric authentication to Windows-powered products," said Jane Gilson, group product manager, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft Corp.
She said Windows CE will ship with "all components automatically set to the highest possible security setting, while providing developers with flexibility to add user-authentication settings, such as AuthenTec's" fingerprint sensors.
"Microsoft recognizes the value of biometrics for everyday applications," AuthenTec President and Chief Executive Scott Moody said. "The decision to include AuthenTec as the first to support Windows CE is certainly a compliment to our company and is another indication that the biometrics industry has arrived."
This is the second collaboration AuthenTec has worked out with Microsoft. Last year, the Melbourne company signed a deal to put a similar plug-in for its biometric products for Windows systems used in desktop and laptop computers.
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