Identix smart card partner uncovered . . . by Steve, of course . . .
Based on Steve's lead, this is the news:
According to the April 1998 edition of Biometric Technology Today, a British trade journal, the Israeli company On Track Innovations is using Identix Fingerscan technology in its mixed contact/contactless smart cards. The template size is 1200 bytes, but will be upgraded with F3 technology down to 120 bytes.
I checked on OTI. They are not listed in the US, but they are growing worldwide. Their contactless smart card, US patent protected along with their reader, allows the consumer to wave the credit card-like device (or even a disguised "card" in the form of a key ring, for example, within 6" of a reader which emits an electromagnetic field that powers the card via the card's embedded antenna. This card can be updated or revised without the need for physical replacement. Some of its uses can require contact and/or finger verification (i.e., money withdrawals) while some require a wave (such as dining hall privileges or vending machines). The card handles both, and functions are determined by its programming. It seems pretty sophisticated to me.
OTI has formed a $2 million joint venture with Japan's CSK group, a major Japanese venture capital firm, to create On Track Japan; is in the middle of a 5 year, $50 million deal with BP Oil in South Africa and Total Oil Company in France; has a deal with IBM Israel, which is trying to get Israeli banks to use smart cards; may have business in China and South America (my old reports only indicated efforts in that direction); is in use in dozens of Israeli kibbutzim (where the cards are used by 7 year olds in dining halls); and, has tried to market the City of West Palm Beach, Florida, for parking meters, etc. (but I don't know if that came off).
The card supports layered applications. IDX biometrics would only be used for the more major uses.
OTI was valued at $63 million in 1995 as a result of a private placement. It is majority owned by its officers and staff, and expects to go public in the near future.
I don't remember seeing a press release on this, do you? |
