NEXT Biometric has signed another joint R&D deal with MK Group in Vietnam. The two companies are to work together to develop secure access systems. Last year the two companies announced a deal to work on a joint R&D program for biometric smart cards. This deal extends that R&D cooperation to include both identity and access management (IAM) solutions and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
The companies have also announced that they are to target three countries with these solutions – Vietnam, South Africa and Brazil. All three countries have significant problems with hacking and identity theft. It is likely that the solutions will be aimed at banking, government departments and possibly some retailers.
According to Alain Faburel, NEXT Biometrics Chief Sales and Marketing Officer: “We are very pleased to expand our collaboration with MK Group and to conjointly leverage the advantages of NEXT`s large-area fingerprint sensor technology in an even broader range of secure authentication solutions and on a wider geographic space.”
Enterprise Times: What does it mean
This is the fourth announcement this month by NEXT Biometrics. It is certainly riding an increased interest in the use of biometric devices. There is a significant interest in the latest generation of fingerprint readers for mobile devices, including laptops.
Banks and credit card companies are looking at how they can improve card holder security with biometrics. This is not new but previous attempts have been limited and had patchy take-up. RBS announced a few days ago that it was to trial biometric fingerprint bank cards. They have not announced whose technology they will use. It will be interesting to see if NEXT gets on the shortlist. With increased interest from the sector the company will also want use its own experience in smart cards and biometrics to develop solutions.
