Startup: Fingerprint Breakthrough?

•Published Apr 29, 2014 04:00 AM

A startup, IDAir, wants to read your fingerprints through thin air. While most fingerprint biometric readers force the user to press against a small plate, their reader is completely 'contact free' in use, which the company claims eliminates the risk of communicating sickness and disease. Here's their 30 second marketing demo:

How does this technology work, how much does it cost, and which systems does it work with? Moreover, how does it compare to traditional fingerprint technologies. We answer those questions inside this note.

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Comments (4)

Margarita Castillo

•Apr 29, 2014

Great article, thanks!

Rukmini Wilson

•Apr 29, 2014

Interesting Brian, though one thing severely bugs:

The main difference IDair's product offers over other fingerprint readers is that the user can be read without making contact with the reader:

I don't have to make contact, I choose to make contact.

Mario Fernandez

•May 01, 2014

Great new product. I must comment though on the "health concerns" mentioned with other fingerprint readers.

So with this product you don't touch the sensor everyone touches, that is great, how are you planning to open the door? Yes, you will touch the same door handle everyone has touched, together with all the taxicab door handles, mass transit hand rails, elevator buttons and building door handles you have touched on your way to the office.

We have a customer who was forced to install hand sanitizer dispensers next to their hand geometry readers by some employees who had those health concerns. The result was a layer of crud left behind on the reader platens rendering them inoperative. Now THAT is gross. They had to clean them almost daily.

Don't lick the palm of your hand after ridding the bus, wash you hands often, and you'll be alright.

The best benefit I see with this technology is the reduced need to clean off the crud created by hand creams, hand sanitizers and other questionable substances left behind on the sensors affecting reliability.

Cheers!

Undisclosed

•May 01, 2014

many biometrics vendors provide terrible integration with PACS systems. red flags (and this thing fits...)

use of wiegand. really? you think you're studly because you ship 26 bit wiegand for biometric use in 2014?

presumption the badging database would be in the widget (a DUPLICATE) so that it could be spitting dumb wiegand numbers.

crappy integration with PACS vendors. Dude, at least show up with a demo showing the thing duct taped to Pro-Watch or something. If you have no reference apps you show zero (or less) clue about doing business development with necessary trading partners, making your product tres uninteresting.

That being said I do have clients who would appreciate the no-touch aspect of this sort of solution.

So, perversely enough, this sounds interesting because it's no less applealing as e.g. the SRI solution and so offers a known-but-unpleasant integration cost.