Iridian Technologies has announced that its Proof Positive iris recognition technology will be deployed on a countrywide basis in an unnamed country in the Middle East. The deployment will initially include passports, visas and watch lists for border protection and law enforcement. Potential future applications include drivers’ licenses and health care. At least one million people will be enrolled in the initial phase. The deployment will include over 100 two-eye stationary iris cameras; other interoperable cameras are expected to be utilized in the future including the latest portable cameras from IrisGuard and Iridian.
“We are very pleased to see another country recognizing the potential of iris recognition to protect their national security,” said Frank Fitzsimmons, president and CEO of Iridian. “Iris recognition is uniquely suited to largescale applications such as this, delivering superb accuracy at a very competitive cost.”
This project represents the second countrywide deployment of iris recognition in the Middle East. In 2004, the United Arab Emirates deployed an iris-based expellee watch list in all their land, sea and air ports. With that system, they have apprehended over 29,000 people with fraudulent travel documents trying to re-enter the country under different identities.
Iridian has experienced accelerating adoption of its technology over the past two years with installations in the Canadian CANPASS program, the US/Canada NEXUS Air program, the US Registered Traveler program, a United Nations refugee repatriation program and immigration programs in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Japan.
Motorola Wins Nationwide
iDEN Network Contract
Motorola has been awarded an integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) wireless system contract in Saudi Arabia by Public Telecommunications Company (PTC), a consortium of four major Saudi companies authorized by the Saudi Telecommunications Company, to build and operate a nationwide iDEN system. The initial phase of the iDEN infrastructure contract, signed during the second half of 2004, is valued in excess of $40 million. Motorola recognized $10 million of revenue from this contract in 2004.
PTC plans to sell iDEN services to business, and government users who have a need to communicate with co-workers using iDEN’s unique features. The iDEN solution is a digital trunking system that provides push-to-talk, telephone interconnect services and packet data to digital Public Access Mobile Radio (PAMR) users and commercial and industrial system customers. PTC anticipates launching the new wireless service in the second quarter of 2005.
“We are very excited about offering nationwide iDEN service in Saudi Arabia,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Ohaly, chairman of the board, PTC. “This new service will help improve efficiency and productivity in the workplace and is ideal for businesses where employees must be able to quickly communicate with co-workers, vendors and clients in a reliable, cost-effective manner.”
“We are pleased to be able to team with PTC to provide versatile and efficient communications to the Saudi market,” said Fred Wright, Motorola senior vice president. “iDEN technology has proven to be very successful globally, providing over 21 million users multiple wireless services via a single handset and allowing operators to generate some of the best ARPU and lowest churn in the industry.”
Motorola’s iDEN technology is currently deployed in 18 countries around the globe. Customers can enjoy the benefits of a single handset that offers one-to-one Push-To-Talk service; simultaneous Push-To-Talk service to multiple individuals or groups; telephone interconnect service; short-messaging; and wireless Internet data service. Current models of iDEN handsets offer a full range of features including global positioning satellite (GPS) technology, color displays, speaker phone, voice recorder, voice dialing and downloadable ring tones in competitively sized and designed handsets. For further information on iDEN handsets, visit www.motorola.com/iden.
CIT Continues to Assist Saudi
Banks in EMV Migration
CIT, an international IT services and solutions provider, has successfully completed the delivery of a set of tailored EMV workshops and strategy formulation sessions to Samba. EMV alludes to the internationally-agreed standards for chip payment cards, originally agreed to by MasterCard Europe and Visa. EMV standards are maintained by EMVCo, an organization owned and managed by MasterCard and Visa.
CIT EMV and ePayment teams have successfully completed two rounds of EMV workshops with Samba, covering the technical and business aspects of the EMV migration cycle. The objective of these sessions was to increase the smart card and EMV migration awareness in the bank and ensure that the bank is getting the needed readiness for such a critical initiative.
These workshops were provided at Samba premises in Riyadh and focused on delivering a detailed strategic review of the EMV implementation business and technical requirements, identifying the potential impacts on the bank’s infrastructure and processes and working closely with the bank’s senior management as a team to determine the strategic direction for implementing EMV and multiapplication chip cards. The EMV awareness workshops were supplemented by the provision of an EMV road map document and the initiation of the EMV strategic planning exercise. In addition, specific related security training was provided in the areas of security and key management, and the implications of EMV in the overall security infrastructure of the bank.
Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB) has also engaged CIT for a similar strategic partnership. CIT is already providing SHB with focused transfer of knowledge drawing on CIT’s senior consultants from both North America and the Middle East.
