News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Mexico taps Unisys for national ID

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Unisys announced that its Mexican subsidiary has been awarded a contract by the Mexican Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Citizen Registry to create and manage an advanced citizen identification solution using biometric technologies. The project would create a database with iris, fingerprint and facial biometric data on up to 110 million Mexican citizens that would be used as part of the Mexican government’s larger national ID card project.

The contract, awarded to a consortium comprised of Unisys and Mexican communications company AXTEL, is worth approximately $50 million over three years, with approximately $32 million of the contract value expected to go to Unisys. Unisys will integrate the solution, provide the IT infrastructure and manage the data center hosting the solution. AXTEL will provide communications services as well as the data center facility and the service operations center.


“To more accurately identity and detect fraud, the Unisys solution includes iris capture and matching, as well as multimodal fusion incorporating three biometrics,” said Terry Hartmann, vice president of Identity Solutions, Unisys.

The Unisys solution will be based on the proven Unisys Library of eID Artifacts software framework, which creates building blocks for identity and credentialing solutions to accelerate development and reduce implementation time.

Unisys will also provide applications outsourcing services to help keep the identity and credentialing solution updated and running correctly. [end] 

NXP Semiconductors announced that its SmartMX secure contactless microcontroller chip has been chosen to power the new German contactless National Identity card.

The German government has selected NXP as the supplier of an inlay solution containing a SmartMX chip, packaged in an ultra-thin module. Issuance of German contactless ID cards, which will replace the current paper-based IDs, will start in November. More than 60 million cards are expected to be rolled out over the next ten years.

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Mexico plans to start enrolling 110 million citizens into its national ID card program this summer. The program will be among the first to capture iris, fingerprint and facial biometrics for identification, says Terry Hartmann, vice president of identity solutions at Unisys.

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Silvertap, a Free Flow Wines brand and provider of wines on tap, is working with Mobile BIS to develop RFID technology-based mobile software that tracks and validates every step of its keg’s product lifecycle.

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Banco Del Bajio, a financial institution based in Mexico, has selected Gemalto to implement the Allynis Instant Artwork solution. Banco Del Baijo provides service primarily to the small to medium enterprise and agricultural sector. The use of the Gemalto product will enable the bank to order small quantities of smart payment cards with a unique artwork design, extending services to the secure EMV bank cards program.

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Hirsch Electronics announced the award of $4 million in orders to supply U.S. Department of Justice agencies with Hirsch security systems. The majority of the revenue associated with the orders was recognized within the second quarter 2010. Notice of the awards was first made public by the General Services Administration pursuant to Federal disclosure regulations.

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Digital Identification Solutions Group, through its UAE distributor Emirates Photo Marketing, has been awarded a seven-figured Euro contract for the supply of personalization systems and consumables to the Abu Dhabi Federal Government.

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