California-based ActivCard and Precise Biometrics of Sweden are developing capabilities for the delivery of an Open Platform-based smart card featuring onboard fingerprint identification. The on-card authentication solution will eliminate the need for static passwords and PIN protection, say the companies.
The solutions integrates Precise Biometrics Match-On-Card technology for Java cards with the ActivCard Gold smart card management system. It will be available worldwide by the end of this quarter, say the companies.
"Not only is the fingerprint template stored in the secure environment of a smart card, the fingerprint image is also matched and verified on the smart card itself," says Thomas Arthur, senior vice president of sales and business development at ActivCard.
The combined solution builds on the experience of Precise Biometrics' pilot installation at the Pentagon during the last year and ActivCard's smart card-based e-business deployments with organisations including Lloyds TSB and Citigroup.