But one of the most interesting companies profiled [by Gartner] is biometric firm Lumidigm, based in Albuquerque, N.M. The company made Gartner’s 2004 Cool Vendors in Security and Privacy list with an authentication tool that used skin spectroscopy to identify users, and analysts in 2011 checked back to see where the company is now. It turns out that, at the request of a U.S. government agency, Lumidigm repurposed its technology to develop a new kind of fingerprint sensor.

One client told Gartner Lumidigm’s technology can capture fingerprint images through medical gloves.

Click here to read the full article at Nextgov.

Lumidigm’s Bill Spence penned an article for Security Dealer & Integrator, published Nov 4, 2011. Called “Hospitals Can Finally Put a Finger on Biometrics”, the article demonstrates why fingerprint identity management in hospitals is finally a viable option. Spence writes:

[B]iometrics is only viable if the technology and solution can be made to work reliably for every user, every time. Today, the cutting-edge biometric technology multispectral fingerprint, which has the unique ability to “see” beneath the surface layer of skin, is having a dramatic impact on user performance and real-world experience in the healthcare industry…. It’s a solution that is now showing up in healthcare facilities worldwide.

Click here to read the full article at Security Dealer & Integrator.

Zack Martin, Editor, AVISIAN Publications published an in-depth look at biometrics in physical access control on October 26, 2011. He interviewed several industry experts for the article, including Lumidigm’s Phil Scarfo. In the article, Scarfo discusses biometrics applications in construction and transportation:

Fleet and asset managers want to use biometrics to know who is driving a particular vehicle or who packed a particular container, Scarfo explains. “In essence there will be a biometric switch instead of an ignition that will enable the driver to be identified at the home office,” he says.

Click here to read the full article at SecureIDNews.com.

Some pattern recognition software would also be able to analyze the fingerprint pattern to determine if it’s fake or has been tampered with, says Rowe. “It’s generally possible to look at a pattern you’re measuring and see that the lines or ridges and valleys aren’t something you would expect in a regular space,” he says. “You’ll see evidence of abrupt transitions, scars and marks that are obscuring patterns.”

Click here to read the full article.

Frost & Sullivan goes on to state, “The best practices outlined in this whitepaper provide the requisite knowledge necessary for organizations of all sizes to ask the right questions of vendors and contractors that design and implement fingerprint biometric systems.”

The white paper is available from Frost & Sullivan online here.

One of the early feedbacks we’ve been getting from everyone who have used it, have seen it, or who have deployed it, is that this is, perhaps, the fastest fingerprint sensor they’ve ever seen. For applications where time is of the essence and somebody is looking to reduce the actual time to acquire and get a result back, the Mariner device is incredibly fast.

Scarfo also discussed the Lumidigm Advantage™ :

With the Lumidigm Advantage, we extend [our] solution to all users in, virtually, all conditions. As a result, we reduce the burden on the people who must administer and manage these systems but, more importantly, we reduce the frustration of the end-users, who, quite frankly, expect that when they place their finger on a biometric sensor, it’s going to work.

Click here to read the entire interview.

As one integrator says, “Biometrics is less than one percent of my revenue stream but is involved in ten percent of my service calls. You want me to sell more biometrics?”… Today, finally, a fingerprint technology can lower the overall lifetime costs of system ownership by reducing management oversight, workarounds, frustrated users and, yes, continued service calls by the integrator. Authorized users get in on the first try. They can now count on their fingerprint reader doing what they wanted it to do.

Read the full article here.

Lumidigm’s Phil Scarfo was one of the experts consulted for the article, which addresses traveler safety and convenience as well as Staff and Crew Management. On that latter point, Scarfo points out that fingerprint biometrics can offer a high return on investment:

Eliminating “buddy punching” is only part of the reason that many want to upgrade, Scarfo observed. “Biometric time-and-attendance systems also prove to be more cost-effective in the long run. Within three to five years, biometric solutions become break-even with plastic cards because of the associated costs with cartridge and printer replacements, as well as the support and management of the system.”

Click here to read the full article.

Phil Scarfo penned an article for Hi-Tech Security Solutions (South Africa) that was published in July. In “Beyond the Door”, Scarfo discusses the historic problems with biometrics in real applications and shows how multispectral imaging technology from Lumidigm is solving those problems today. He writes:

Multispectral imaging is a sophisticated technology developed to overcome the fingerprint capture problems conventional imaging systems have in less-than-ideal conditions. This more effective solution is based on using multiple spectrums of light and advanced polarisation techniques to extract unique fingerprint characteristics from both the surface and subsurface of the skin. The nature of human skin physiology is such that this subsurface information is both relevant to fingerprint capture and unaffected by surface wear and other environmental factors.

Click here to read the full article.