Red Herring

Biometrics

By Mark Mowrey
January 3, 2002 

Banking on individuality, biometrics companies use innate differences between humans as the basis for identification. Systems exist to evaluate fingerprints, faces, hands, eyes, voices, even signatures; they differ widely in their relative accuracy, cost to implement, and ease of use. Topping the list for accuracy are retinal and iris scans, according to the International Biometric Group, an integration and consulting firm. Those methods remain the costliest, though, and require the most effort on the part of the person being identified--in part an explanation for relatively low adoption rates. Dominating the market, finger-scanning technologies will likely generate nearly half of the $524 million in biometrics revenue in 2001. The increase in corporate and national security concerns suggests that the market for biometrics devices is in its infancy. And though the field is dense with competitors, fundings continue to rise.