Middle East biometric security market to witness new regional projects and developments in 2006

Demand is rapidly growing for verifying the identity of individuals at corporate and government sites as well as at border points and airports, with the market expected to be worth over $630 million by 2008, according to latest industry analysis.

Major regional biometric identity projects are expected to be announced in 2006. Daon's Chief Operating Officer, Tony Murphy said: 'Daon is currently involved with a number of governments across the Middle East region on a range of security initiatives', but Murphy believes that these are only the beginning in creating secure environments in a wide range of applications.

Daon demonstrated biometric identification and verification solutions on many occasions during 2005. Visitors to the Daon stand at GITEX 2005 were able to use a combination of biometrics, smartcards and passport credentials to authenticate themselves to a range of biometric-based applications for e-passports, visas, e-gate, border management and access control.

Leading by market value are Saudi Arabia and the UAE who combined, currently spend 77% of the region's IT budget worth almost US$9 billion annually. Major projects such as new airports are one reason why industry players feel prospects are brighter in the Gulf region compared to Europe. The UAE Ministry of the Interior also approved a US$53 million contract last year for the design of an ePassport.

In a recent survey 53% of Saudi companies believed that the use of biometrics in office buildings is warranted in light of the heightened security situation. Saudi Arabia is also amassing a fingerprint database of all citizens and foreigners that enter the kingdom and hopes to eventually develop an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) at all air, sea and land ports and other border crossings.

Further afield in North Africa, Morocco has approved a US$34 million contract for its AFIS to support a national identification programme and the state-run National Airports Office plans to invest over US$100 million over the next three years to upgrade the control and security systems of all local airports.

Daon's technology is currently deployed in international programmes such as Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) and the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme, where multiple biometrics and tokens have been deployed for the secure identification and common credentialing of thousands of travellers and workers.

'The willingness of the Gulf States to embrace biometric technology places the region at the forefront of next generation security implementations. We recently unveiled the latest developments in the technology and how it is being used for enhanced security and advanced business process improvements in areas such as visitor management,' commented Murphy, 'thus creating benchmarks for the future.'

He explained: 'The common objective of all these programmes is protection: protection of assets against intrusion, theft, and fraud; protection of environments against access and damage; and protection of individuals from terrorism, injury, and loss.'

'The ability to positively identify individuals is key to safety and security for both corporate organisations and national governments in the drive to facilitate legitimate travel and trade across the globe,' Murphy concluded. 'Daon is leading the way in providing products and expertise that help customers identify individuals as they conduct transactions and provide services.'