Infineon and IDEX Biometrics join forces to advance biometric card solutions
November 27 2018 - 2:00AM
Munich, Germany and Oslo,
Norway - 27 November 2018 - Working together to advance
the biometric card landscape: Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX /
OTCQX: IFNNY), the global leader in smart card payment solutions,
and IDEX Biometrics (IDEX ASA), the leading provider of advanced
fingerprint identification and authentication solutions have joined
forces. The two companies aim to seamlessly integrate IDEX'
biometrics technology into platforms featuring Infineon's secure
elements and will develop a system-on-card demonstrator that runs
on the latest dual-interface 16-bit security controller from
Infineon.
Biometric cards are expected to further reduce
card fraud by introducing a simple second factor authentication.
This can be used for payment transactions and applications
combining payment with social services. In addition, the
fingerprint authentication compresses the overall transaction times
compared to a PIN authentication. This simple tap and go
significantly improves the payment experience of a user.
The technical challenge of contactless biometric
smart cards is their sensitive power consumption profile.
Infineon's secure elements have a big advantage to enable
biometrics due to an optimized power profile in non-battery
supported contactless systems as well as their outstanding
contactless transaction performance. They support contactless
payment transactions at significantly below 300ms, this enables a
biometric payment transaction to be performed in less than one
second.
"We firmly believe that leveraging the expertise of Infineon and
IDEX will allow us to define a sustainable path for a secure
biometric ecosystem with highest performance," said Bjoern
Scharfen, Head of the Payment & Wearables at Infineon.
"Biometrics are the next innovation step for contactless payment
cards, providing additional security and convenience to banks and
consumers," he added. Biometric data is securely stored on the
security controller embedded in the card. It is not uploaded into
the cloud and so it quite literally stays in the hands of the
user.
Infineon and IDEX are also leading the charge
towards interoperability, which is crucial for ensuring wide
implementation of biometric solutions. The two companies are
investigating and documenting the most efficient way to integrate
IDEX's host API into biometric systems with Infineon's secure
element, to fast-track dual interface biometric cards
deployments.
IDEX is collaborating with major industry players
to develop an open, workable ecosystem for smart card solutions
that enable payment, corporate ID and access applications.
"As the leading fingerprint biometrics company, we
are committed to continuously growing our partner ecosystem,"
explained Stan Swearingen, CEO at IDEX Biometrics. "We are
delighted to collaborate closely with the highly experienced team
at Infineon towards turning the biometric integration on smart
cards into a seamless experience."
Biometric technology is already widely accepted in
mobile telephony and will increasingly spread to smart card
applications such as payment, identification and access solutions:
According to market research firm ABI, the number of payment cards
with biometric functionality is expected to grow from 4.5 million
units in 2019 to 120 million by 2023.
Press contact IDEX
Biometrics:
Henrik Knudtzon, CFO, +47 9302 2827,
Henrik.knudtzon@idexbiometrics.com
About IDEX
Biometrics
IDEX Biometrics, also known as IDEX ASA (OSE: IDEX), is the leading
provider of fingerprint identification technologies offering
simple, secure and personal authentication for all. We help people
make payments, prove their identity, gain access to information,
unlock devices or gain admittance to buildings with the touch of a
finger. We invent, engineer and commercialize these secure, yet
incredibly user-friendly solutions.
For more information visit
www.idexbiometrics.com
This information is subject to the disclosure
requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities
Trading Act.
This
announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West
Corporation clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: IDEX ASA via Globenewswire