Smart Cards

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What are biometric smart cards?

Smart cards, as their name implies, are plastic cards with integrated circuits that allow them to contain important, rich data. The most common of these are modern credit and debit cards, as well as, in some countries, national ID cards. Biometric smart cards contain biometric data used for identification and authentication purposes.

While most biometric smart cards simply contain biometric data that can be compared to that captured by a separate biometric reader for ID verification, new advances in the production of fingerprint sensors have led us to the advent of a new type of smart card: one with an embedded biometric sensor, capable of performing 1:1 matching on-device.

Where can I find biometric smart cards?

Commonly, biometric smart cards are used as identification documents, like India’s Aadhaar card or the driver’s licenses in the US and many Canadian provinces. While the newer e-Passports are not technically cards, much of the same technology is used for layering biometrics into those and similar secure documents that leverage biometric data for border security and government services.

Biometric smart cards are also used in physical access control deployments, often employed in multi-factor security systems in facoilities where security is of critical importance. The aforementioned cards with embedded sensors, meanwhile, are being trialed by some of the world’s biggest financial service providers to add convenient and secure payment options to point-of-sale purchases.

How are biometric smart cards making a difference?

Mid Coast Health Services in Brunswick, Maine, uses biometric smart cards and cloud technology to prevent fraud and cut down on duplicate patient records.

Now that fingerprint sensors are standard on smartphones across the price spectrum, sensor manufacturers are concentrating efforts on bringing their technology to smart cards. This focus has stoked innovation, leading to such inventions as the flexible fingerprint sensor.

Biometric smart cards are part of Aadhaar, arguably the most ambitious national ID project on the planet. Aadhaar cards contain iris and fingerprint biometrics, and can be sued for attendance at work, the receipt of state subsidies, and even mobile phone registration.

Read on to meet the leading providers of Smart Cards solutions.

IDEMIA is the global leader in Augmented Identity for an increasingly digital world, with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, travel and vote in ways that are now possible in a connected environment. Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect this asset, whether for individuals or for objects. We ensure privacy and trust as well as guarantee secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions for international clients from Financial, Telecom, Identity, Public Security and IoT sectors.

Enabled by its patented NEXT Active Thermal principle, NEXT Biometrics (www.nextbiometrics.com) offers high quality area fingerprint sensors at a fraction of the prices of comparable competitors. A wide range of product formats including Smartphones, Tablets, PC’s, Doors, Time registration systems, Wearables, Payment terminals, Flashdrives, USB-tokens, Key fobs and many more are targeted.

IDEX Biometrics, legal name IDEX ASA (OSE: IDEX), is the leading provider of fingerprint identification technologies offering simple, secure and personal authentication for all. We help people make payments, prove their identity, gain access to information, unlock devices or gain admittance to buildings with the touch of a finger. We invent, engineer and commercialize these secure, yet incredibly user-friendly solutions. Our total addressable market represents a fast-growing multi-billion-unit opportunity.