| Biometric Firm Takes Off With Safer Air Travel |
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In airports on both sides of the Atlantic, BioWise is taking off as a leader in the provision of multi-biometric and multi-modal......
In airports on both sides of the Atlantic, BioWise is taking off as a leader in the provision of multi-biometric and multi-modal identification and authentication middleware for safer air travel.
Working with SITA and UNISYS, the BioWise system is in use in the US’ large-scale registered traveller’s pilot programme for internal flights. “In return for registering,” explains André Oeyen, Managing Director of BioWise, “they will be considered as trusted travellers and will be granted some privileges, allowing them to pass faster through the airport gate.” This is only once they are accepted into the programme, and have their smartcard with their biometric details authenticated at the BioWise kiosk. During registration travellers have both their index fingers and irises scanned and stored according to International Civil Aviation Organisation recommendations for biometric information storage, and have valid forms of identification checked by the police authorities.
Initially deployed in airports in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Houston for a trial period of 90 days, after well over 120 days it is still in use by thousands of registered travellers instead of the planned hundreds. Its reported popularity among travellers make it likely that more kiosks will be rolled out next year across the 500 US airports that qualify for this kind of infrastructure, believes Oeyen.
In France, BioWise has kiosks in place in six major airports where it is being used for authenticating any kind of airport-related staff. The system incorporates different kinds of face, iris and finger print scanners used to compare the scanned traits with those stored in the database. Currently the French Civil Aviation Authority, the Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC), is certifying the technologies. According to Oeyen, after six months the DGAC will chose which ones are sufficiently robust and secure, and so can be deployed nationwide, if airports wish to invest in such an infrastructure.
BioWise, founded in 2003, was a buyout of the biometrics development team department at Keyware Technologies. With finance from BioWise’s French mother company, the Ingenica Group, this small Belgium-based company of seven brought with them the biometrics customers and projects that have given them a head start over their competitors.
“Our core activity is biometrics systems integration,” explains Oeyen. “Basically what we have is standard middleware that allows for easy integration of different technologies but also offers a very uniform interface to passengers or staff at airports.” The middleware application behind the BioWise biometrics kiosk “whether it is finger print or iris for us it does not matter, can cope with any kind of technology and that’s what you need to do today if you want to be successful in a very fast moving industry,” states Oeyen.
Oeyen believes the secret of their success is their strategic marketing partnerships. For example they were able to bid for the US pilot programme with SITA, the world’s leading provider of information and telecommunication solutions to the air transport and related industries and present in every airport in the world. “SITA’s worldwide sales channel has people that spot opportunities, and they go after them together,” says Oeyen. “Many other SITA sales people are now looking in their territory for similar kinds of opportunities. We have a potential winning team here.”
I consider that BioWise has a significant potential to accompany the biometrics deployment wave in security systems, across all industry domains, says SITA’s Michel Saunier.
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| ’Trade can resolve Kashmir issue’ - Nov 26, 2004 18:45 IST |
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Foreign Minister Natwar Singh was speaking a day after a visit by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
In Islamabad Mr Aziz has briefed top political and military officials on his talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Kashmir.
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| Scandal-Plagued Corporate World Scrambles to Comply with Reforms - Nov 26, 2004 18:40 IST |
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Scandals are rampant. No, not just in the gossip-infested worlds of Hollywood or politics. Scandals plague what was once perceived to be the bastion of conservatism—corporate America. However, the ugly underbelly of the corporate beast has now been exposed, revealing wrongdoing at some of the nation’s most prominent companies, ranging the corporate alphabet from Adelphia to Xerox. The countdown began Nov. 15. After that date, companies have 75 days following their financial year-end to comply with key Sarbanes-Oxley reforms. However, accountants struggling with this tough and costly task may soon be confessing they can’t, as more “creative” corporate bookkeeping is thrust into the limelight, leaving us to wonder if corporate executives have any common sense. One veteran of many boardrooms, Michael McFeeley, advocates injecting “common sense” into the business world and wrote a book, Common $ense Management, to explain in simple terms just how to go about doing that.
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| I’m not draconian, says Blunkett - Nov 26, 2004 18:41 IST |
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The government has been accused of trying to create a climate of fear through new law and order measures.
And there are fears plans to give police and civilian officers more powers go too far.
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| Emin film gets debut in home town - Nov 26, 2004 18:38 IST |
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Top Spot was shown to an invited audience at a hotel on Thursday in an event organised by BBC South East Today and attended by Emin.
Last week Emin withdrew the film from UK cinema release after it was given an 18 certificate by censors.
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| Portugal child sex trial begins - Nov 26, 2004 18:37 IST |
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The accused include a TV presenter, a former top diplomat, and a former director of the Casa Pia children’s home network.
Abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was only discovered in 2002.
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| DUP ’not committed’ says Adams - Nov 26, 2004 18:35 IST |
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The Sinn Fein leader has been updating his party’s national executive (Ard Chomhairle) in Dublin on Thursday over the latest efforts to restore devolution.
The DUP will brief its executive on the ongoing efforts on Friday night.
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| Students put university on eBay - Nov 26, 2004 18:34 IST |
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The university wants to end degrees in music, chemistry and Italian.
On Wednesday night, the highest mock bid was £10m and the page had received more than 4,000 hits. The auction website removed the page on Thursday.
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| Rabbis clean up spicy soap advert - Nov 26, 2004 18:26 IST |
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The star of risque sitcom Sex and the City is known around the world for her glamorous gowns and chi-chi heels.
But conservative Jews were so offended by the bare flesh in a Lux soap advert that rabbis called for a mass boycott by the Orthodox community.
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| Greens call for supermarket code - Nov 26, 2004 18:24 IST |
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The party said that the big four supermarket chains were putting local farmers out of business.
Green MSPs want regulations put in place to help encourage local production and aid smaller retailers.
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| NI proposals ’ready for publishing’ - Nov 26, 2004 18:23 IST |
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Speaking after meeting Tony Blair at Downing Street, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said officials would provide the parties with written answers to their questions.
However, he added that the two governments could not go on clarifying their proposals forever.
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| GAO to Probe Vote Counting - Nov 26, 2004 18:21 IST |
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The Government Accountability Office said Tuesday it will investigate how the vote was counted in the Nov. 2 election, with an eye toward answering persistent questions about voting irregularities in many states, including Ohio and Florida, which were crucial to President Bush’s win.
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| Air Force Staff Sergeant Walter Campbell is one of Texas’ Hottest Comedians! - Nov 26, 2004 18:5 IST |
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San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) November 25, 2004 -- Walter Campbell, one of San Antonio funniest comedians will be the featured comedian at the Rivercenter Comedy Club downtown San Antonio, TX December 15th thru the 19th with Headliner Rick Gutierrez. Having recently opened for legendary comedian Sinbad at the Lila Cockrell Theater in October, Walter is exploding onto the comedy scene and taking no prisoners.
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| Cyber solutions for Las Vegas Weddings - Nov 26, 2004 18:1 IST |
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Las Vegas brides gained a new wedding planning resource in http://www.WhereBridesGo.com. This online retail storefront is now part of http://www.VegasWeddingGuide.com, a local online bridal information source in Las Vegas, NV.
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| Back to square one in Kashmir after Aziz visit? - Nov 26, 2004 16:19 IST |
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With a tinge of reality always underlining hope here, nobody in Jammu and Kashmir really expected anything earthshaking from the visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to New Delhi, but the despondency persists anyway.
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| Centre to help trace abducted NHPC officials - Nov 26, 2004 16:17 IST |
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A week after the abduction of two National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) officials, the federal home ministry has assured help to Bihar in tracing them.
The assurance came following a request by union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
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| Devotees set up website on Shankaracharya - Nov 26, 2004 16:3 IST |
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A new website set up by followers of the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram seeks to disseminate authentic information about the controversy surrounding his arrest in a murder case.
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| Russia, Ukraine ponder next move - Nov 26, 2004 16:1 IST |
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Protests by tens of thousands of people in the wake of the victory of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by Russia in Ukraine’s polls, suggest that Moscow has less of a firm grip on its former republic than it previously believed.
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| Bomb blast kills one in Pakistan - Nov 26, 2004 15:59 IST |
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At least one person was killed and 15 were injured when a bomb went off in a busy market in Pakistan’s Balochistan province Thursday, reports Xinhua.
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| Two policemen, two guerrillas die in Kashmir - Nov 26, 2004 15:53 IST |
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Two policemen died instantly and another was critically wounded when separatist guerrillas fired at a group of police commandos in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday.
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| How to Attract New Business Like George W. Bush Wins Elections - Nov 26, 2004 15:47 IST |
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Small to medium-sized business can learn a lot about attracting new customers by studying how George W Bush won the US Election.
Bush won with an increased majority with a campaign message of building trust to overcome people’s anxiety about the future.
“In a time of stress and crisis, Bush was able to connect with the masses, and this is what businesses should be doing,” said marketing expert and International Business Speaker, Thomas Murrell, CEO of the Australian-based 8M Media and Communications.
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