CAMPBELL, CALIF. - April
11, 2005 - Recognition Systems, the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand's
(IR) Security & Safety's Electronic Control Systems, announced today that
the Port of Antwerp (Belgium), Europe's second largest port, has joined the
Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Europe's largest, in using hand geometry technology.
By pre-recording the hand geometry of each participant onto the smart chip card,
HandReaders then make it easy to verify that people entering and exiting the
port are who they say they are, making fraud virtually impossible.
The systems are a predecessor application to the "Transportation Worker
Identity Program (TWIC)" now being developed by the U.S. Transportation
Security Administration, which could ultimately involve 6 million workers at
U.S. seaports, airports, railways and other transportation facilities. Likewise,
European ports must establish a process for tracking access by employees and
visitors across private terminals under the International Maritime Organization's
(IMO) International Code for the Security of Ships and of Port Facilities (ISPS).
In Antwerp, up to 20,000 longshoremen, truck drivers and visitors requiring
access to one of the Port's 71 individual terminals will be validated and recorded
using the system. Over 8,000 credentials have already been issued. In October
of 2004, Recognition Systems announced that it had already generated more than
3 million transactions at the Port of Rotterdam.
"Using this system, both ports are able to more quickly and accurately
verify the identities of authorized employees and visitors at port entrances,"
explains Bill Spence, Recognition Systems Director of Marketing. "Our biometric-based
solution improves security and safety as well as operating efficiencies."
The smartcard looks like a normal credit card, but the chip in the card is a
minicomputer that stores a three-dimensional biometric template of the left
hand of the cardholder. At the entrance, the employee identifies himself by
using the smartcard together with a HandReader, which automatically takes a
three-dimensional reading of the size and shape of the hand and verifies the
user's identity in less than one second. Scan information of his left hand is
compared with the template information on the smartcard. He repeats the process
upon leaving.
Of special importance to transportation authorities, the biometrically-enhanced
smartcard system ensures that information cannot be manipulated or changed,
the driver does not have to remember specific information such as a PIN code,
the smartcard cannot be transferred to other people, and mistakes as a result
of typing in incorrect ID numbers are impossible.
HandReaders handle any population volume with ease while providing impeccable
reliability. With dramatically lower false reject and failure to enroll rates
than other biometric technologies, the value of HandReaders grows as the number
of users and/or transactions increases. They are recommended for outdoor applications.
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