Biometric technology likely at air, sea and land ports of entry and exit soon

Upcoming biometric projects in the region include: an Abu Dhabi Police E-Gate turnkey solution for a fast-track Frequent Traveler facility (e-gate) at various international airports in the United Arab Emirates; a "Traveller Biometric Identification Project", sponsored by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to develop and implement a biometric identification system at all KSA border entry and exit points; and a border security system deployed by the Kuwait Ministry of the Interior to use biometric technology for all border entry and exit points.

"The Middle East is one of the world's fastest adopters of biometric technology, and soon nearly every airport and border crossing in the region will be considered state-of-the-art in terms of its ability to quickly and accurately positively identify individuals," says Tony Murphy, Chief Operating Officer of Daon, who is visiting the region to meet with key decision makers on the deployment of biometrics.

"At GITEX, Daon will be demonstrating its software product capabilities for iris, finger, and facial technologies, and we will extend our knowledge to interested customers and prospects at our booth on the IBM stand," adds Murphy.

Murphy speaks with a certain degree of confidence, as Daon is already currently involved in a number of large international projects including; the TSA's Registered Traveler Program, the US Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Phase III Program, biometric employee access control in London City Airport, as well as an integrated employee physical and logical access control solution for Clarendon Insurance in New York city.

On the Registered Traveler Program in the USA, Daon is providing the core biometric software to three of the five airports. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) awarded Unisys a contract for Los Angeles International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston) and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and Daon are a sub-contractor on their team. These three airports represent three of the top 15 largest airports in the world in terms of passenger traffic. The pilot program started in early July in Minneapolis and has now rolled out successful to all airports using iris, finger, and smartcard technology.

Daon brings extensive biometric research and subject matter expertise as well as proven software products that are highly secure, flexible, and interoperable, to bid teams to enable the rapid deployment of mission critical systems like these.