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Technology Stocks : Identix (IDNX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spice, J. K. who wrote (13010)	4/13/1999 2:20:00 PM
From: Hockeyfan	Respond to of 26039

Very good article and positive review of Identicator scanner -- Excerpts. Read all the way to the bottom... We've gathered 11 biometric systems representative of the burgeoning field: six fingerprint scanners, two voice authentication systems, two face recognition systems, and one (the Saflink SAF/nt 2.0) that can be coupled with almost any type of biometric hardware. You may have heard of other types of systems, such as retina or hand scanners, but these are generally used for building access and the like and are not meant for widespread corporate use. In our labs, we couldn't crack the fingerprint scanners, but we did manage to fool the products from Veritel, Miros, and Visionics at their default sensitivity settings. In a corporate network, ID authentication from a biometric system is the first step in authorizing access. The ID can pass to a Windows Domain Server, a NetWare Directory Services server, or to a directory service using the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Biometrics can also be the secure entry to a more elegant access architecture using digital certificates and public-key infrastructure (PKI) encryption. (Entrust Technologies is an early leader in this emerging market, and Microsoft has licensed PKI technology from Entrust.) Biometric authentication provides the reliability necessary to build these extensive access schemes. (For more on PKI, see "Your Private Internet," November 17, 1998.) If you need better security for just a few desktop, the standalone systems from Digital Persona or Veritel may suffice. They are less expensive to buy up front and don't require the network resources or know-how that most others do. If you are looking to a biometric system to cut down on calls to the Help Desk, a network-centric solution that replaces passwords is your best bet. You'll want affordable hardware and an easy-to-use interface that minimizes IT involvement. In this review, the Identicator BioLogon and Miros's TrueFace Network fill the bill. (Remember – the Miros product was fooled in the lab at their default sensitivity setting.) If you need better security on a majority of desktops, then a network-centric solution is certainly in order. In this roundup, offerings from Compaq Computer Corp., Identicator Technology, InteliTrak Technologies, Saflink, Sony Electronics, and Visionics delivered robust security and good network administration tools. All of the network products we tested support Windows NT. The more elegant implementations from Compaq, Identicator, and Miros integrate seamlessly with Windows NT's GINA (Graphical Identification and Authentication) DLL--the portion of the Windows log-on that identifies and authenticates users--and SAM (Security Accounts Manager), which manages the database of user names, passwords and permissions under Windows NT. Most of the products here require the intervention of an administrator to enroll users--a big commitment of IT time. With the Identix TouchSafe Personal, users can access only computers in which they have been enrolled, which is not good if some users tend to roam. The InteliTrak Citadel GateKeeper, on the other hand, enrolls people with a simple phone call.