NEXT Biometrics has announced the introduction of a new generation of fingerprint sensors that are aimed specifically at scoring the company a leading position in the much sought after smart card market. As with all of NEXT’s sensor products, the latest full sized fingerprint sensors are low powered and low cost, making them ideal for their target market.

“After 12 months of development we are very happy to announce that we have succeeded in creating a brand new core sensor design that consumes less power and going forward will be used in both our flexible and rigid sensor modules,” said NEXT Biometrics CEO Tore Etholm-Idsoe in a statement issued by the company.

Asserting that the new sensors are indeed a key part of NEXT’s strategy in aggressively pursuing the smart card market, Etholm-Idsoe said, “This is an important milestone in our strategic road map. We thank our high quality team of designers, software, firmware and hardware experts which has done an impressive job developing this new sensor generation.”

According to NEXT, the latest sensor designs are compliant with the most rigorous ESD (electrostatic discharge) standards. Despite their intended focus on the smart card market, this compliance ensures that the new fingerprint sensors meet the requirements of all associated mass markets. As such, the new generation of sensors could easily find their way into other, non-smart card applications too, wherever low-cost and low power are in high demand.

At the end of 2015, NEXT Biometrics revealed that it would be focusing on the smart card market. Since then the company has made a great deal of progress in this area, achieving ISO/IEC 17839 standard compliance for its smart card technology in April at the same time as receiving its first major smart card order. The introduction of new low-power, low-cost sensors is yet another step toward NEXT’s stated goal.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)