Daon has joined the Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems Inc. (FiXs) bringing its biometrics platform and standards leadership to the organization. It also has accepted a position on the FiXs Board of Directors.

FiXs is a coalition of commercial companies, government contractors, and not-for-profit organizations whose mission is to establish and maintain a worldwide, interoperable identity and cross-credentialing network built on security, privacy, trust, and standard operating rules. FiXs currently has 24 member companies.

Pyramid Technologies has launched their Pyramid TimeTrax Bio Generation II, a biometric system that features an improved sensor for fingerprint reading.

Following in the footsteps of the earlier version, it offers one-touch time and attendance tracking by employee’s fingerprints and eliminates buddy punching, swipe cards and badges. The new version is upgradeable to 6000 employees for the Ethernet version and 150 for the USB version. It can export with most major payroll systems and calculates overtime, sick and vacation pay automatically.

Contact or contactless?

Which is it when it uses your body to transmit the data? We will have to see as NTT show off a new device that transforms the human body into a “personal area network (PAN)” that enables users to communicate with devices just by touching them.

The new product, called Firmo, consists of a card-sized transmitter carried in the user’s pocket. The card converts stored data into a weak AC electric field that extends across the body, and when the user touches a device or object embedded with a compatible receiver, the electric field is converted back into a data signal that can be read by the device.

Firmo is not actually based on PAN, but based on NTT’s RedTacton human area network technology, which is designed to enable convenient human-machine data exchange through natural physical contact — even through clothing, gloves and shoes, according to NTT.

But this new touching technology is not cheap. A set of five transmitters and one receiver will set one back more than $7m500, but NTT expects the price to come down with mass production.

The Port Authority of Los Angeles has contracted with Unisys Corp. to design and manage an identification and access control system, using smart card and biometric technologies, to identify workers who require access to restricted areas in the port.

The three-year contract is part of the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credentials program. Workers enrolled in the pilot would present a card to a biometric-enabled reader and place a finger on a reader at all entrances. The readers then compare the cardholder to stored biometrics and automatically grant or deny access. Under the contract, Unisys is to plan, design, develop and manage a field test of the new system and help participating terminal operators integrate TWIC-enabled access control systems using a tamper-resistant credential or smart card which will contain biometrics (fingerprint) and digital photograph.

Lockheed Martin and IBM will join together to develop and maintain the Next Generation Identification (NGI) system for the FBI. NGI is the new multi-modal, state-of–the-art biometrics system that will be used by state, local and federal authorities.

The NGI system will now also include palm prints, iris and facial recognition capabilities in addition to fingerprints. Lockheed Martin will provide program oversight as well as biometric and large systems development. As a subcontractor, IBM will provide information technology services, as well as specific software and hardware to be used in the NGI system.

IBM had previously protested the contract award to Lockheed. It wasn’t immediately know if the computing giant dropped its protest bid with this announcement.

Atmel Corp. was recognized for its development of the FingerChip fingerprint sensor technology at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Southeast Asia Industrial Technologies awards presentation. Frost & Sullivan based its selection for this award on Atmel’s patented fingerprint sensing technology and sensor solutions that enhances user experience with best-in-class false rejection performance and best durability. The Atmel FingerChip sensor utilizes a thermal-based technology, highly sensitive to the slightest variation in fingerprint topographies.

Stamford, Conn.-based L-1 Identity Solutions released Daugman ’08, a new version of the legacy 2Pi iris recognition algorithm owned by L-1 Identity Solutions. Daugman ’08 is designed to address real-world applications for iris recognition where control over the process of acquiring an image of the human iris is often difficult such as on the move, at a distance or from mobile devices. This algorithm is the result of research and development initiative led by L-1’s Chief Scientist for Iris Recognition and the original inventor of the 2Pi algorithm, Professor John Daugman.

The British government will begin testing facial-recognition technology at airports in the United Kingdom this summer. Individuals who hold new passports issued by the United Kingdom or European Union will be eligible to participate in the trial.

Participants will pass through unmanned gates, where their faces will be scanned electronically, and those facial images will be matched with the digitized photos on record. If the image is verified, the passenger will be allowed to proceed through the gate. The test is one of the first conducted globally to demonstrate the viability of facial-recognition technology to verify the identities of travelers at airports.

LG Electronics has entered into a license agreement with Iridian Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of L-1 Identity Solutions, to license proprietary iris recognition software. The companies also settled all historical issues and disputes among LGE and L-1, Iridian and Securimetrics Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of L-1 and have dismissed the pending litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, in Newark.

Residents of Middletown, Pennsylvania will soon have the ability to purchase wine from vending machines. The machines will be protected by biometrics so that no one under the age of 21 will have access.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) is looking for a company that can provide a machine capable for dispensing 10-15 varieties of chilled wine, while also making it impossible for minors to make a purchase. The PLCB hopes high-tech features such as the ability to read biometrics such as fingerprints will make the machines secure, and even prevent people who are intoxicated from obtaining alcohol. The machines would go in supermarkets and other locations.