Industry Standard

Aye for An Eye 
More companies are looking to retinal and finger scans for better security 

By David Lake/Jul 16 2001 

Technology once reserved for the secret laboratories of power-mad superspies is slowly making its way into the real world. Biometric security systems that verify a person's identity by scanning fingers, hands, faces or eyes is a growing, though still tiny, market. According to Cahners In-Stat Group, biometric hardware and software sales worldwide will reach $520 million in 2005, up from $228 million in 2000. That's impressive growth, though still much less than what Net surfers spend in even a week of online shopping.

The paranoid will not be surprised to hear that most biometric revenue today comes from the Big Brothers of the world.

"Government spending accounted for about 75 percent of finger-scan technology revenues last year," says Cahners senior analyst Marlene Bourne. Law enforcement agencies alone accounted for half of all biometric spending in 2000.
Businesses spent roughly $90 million in the same period, says Bourne. Thirty-nine percent of that revenue went to systems that controlled physical access to rooms or buildings; 16 percent went to systems that monitored the time a person spent in the office, according to International Biometric Group.

PC and network security might ultimately prove to be the biggest growth sector for biometrics. Twenty percent of biometric revenue came from the sales of systems that granted access to corporate PCs or networks. Such sales will account for 27 percent of total revenues in 2003.

Still, it will take a while for eye scanners and the like to overtake passwords and smartcards. Last year, 92 percent of businesses worldwide reported using passwords to verify their employees' identification. Only 4 percent used any type of biometric technology. And fewer than 1 percent of businesses said they currently require customers to use a biometric verification system. No matter how cool it looks in the movies, regular folks might well balk at the idea of having their eyes scanned to withdraw $20 from an ATM.