Product Spotlight

A conversation with Beth Thomas, product manager for readers and credentials at Honeywell

  • By Security Products Staff
  • Jan 23, 2007

HONEYWELL has more than 30 years of experience in offering security professionals innovative products and solutions, and company experts have years of service in addressing complex access control situations. In a recent interview with Security Products, Beth Thomas, product manager for Honeywell readers and credentials, discussed the impact ID management and biometric technology has on HSPD-12 and FIPS 201.

Q. What type of biometric solution is best suited for indoor and outdoor applications?

Pull quote copy goes here.

Today's biometric technology offers advantages and disadvantages, so selection should be based upon the needs at hand and considerations should include variable environmental working conditions.

A. Today's biometric technology offers advantages and disadvantages, so selection should be based upon the needs at hand and considerations should include variable environmental working conditions. For example, there are fingerprint readers designed for indoor versus outdoor use. In addition, hand geometry technology can be used in laboratory environments where it is undesirable to remove latex gloves, and iris recognition is well-suited for non-touch environments.

As a provider of access control products, Honeywell, as well as our third-party providers, offers OmniAssureTM and BioscryptTM fingerprint readers, IR HandkeyTM hand geometry readers and iris readers.

Q. If adding biometrics makes a facility more secure, should the technology be used at every door?

A. You may want to use the technology at every entrance, but first you need to weigh the benefits and cost. For high-security areas, the answer would be yes. For high-traffic areas, the answer may be no -- at least during peak hours. Using biometrics adds time to the authentication process, so you need to be cautious of creating entry queues. In some facilities, a queue may be simply an inconvenience, while in others an external queue may be identified as an unwelcome target.

Q. How has Honeywell responded to HSPD-12 and FIPS 201 requirements?

A. As part of the FIPS 201 PIV II solution, the contact interface on the OmniAssure smart chip provides access to two stored fingerprint templates in an interoperable ANSI 378 fingerprint template standard. These fingerprints are not accessible via the contactless interface for physical access. However, we do use the contact interface on PIV II cards during registration of cardholders into Pro-Watch and WIN-PAK PE in order to authenticate the cardholder to their card.

Q. Are all fingerprint standards interoperable?

A. No. There are many proprietary fingerprint standards in use today. Two interoperable fingerprint template standards have recently been developed: ANSI 377 for pattern-based templates and ANSI 378 for minutia-based templates. I expect that most physical access control fingerprint readers will have optional support for one or both of these standards within the next year in order to offer more options for end users. Sensor updates for OmniAssure to support ANSI standards also are being developed.

Q. What technologies do OmniAssure readers support?

A. OmniAssure readers use Bioscrypt fingerprint sensors, as well as the templates supported by the Bioscrypt sensors. Fingerprints are stored on a contactless smart card. OmniAssure readers are unique because the units offer streamlined fingerprint enrollment without using a PC or PC-based software. Special configuration cards can set the reader enrollment mode to allow multiple users to be enrolled sequentially, which reduces enrollment time and makes enrollment easy for sites of any size. Honeywell's Pro-Watch Airport Pak offers integrated fingerprint enrollment for the OmniAssure reader on MifareTM DESFire cards, and we also can use the Bioscrypt enrollment software. In 2007, we will offer enrollment via our new SmartPlusTM enhanced badging.

Q. What is the difference between fingerprint images and templates?

A. Fingerprint images are literally large pictures of your finger, required for accurate fingerprint matching. Image matching requires more memory and processing power, which makes it impractical for regular access control use. Fingerprint templates are mathematical representations of your fingerprint for numerical comparisons and are better suited for everyday access control because they use algorithms, which use less memory.

Q. What panel support do you have for biometric readers?

A. In our PW-5000 and PW-3000 panel families, reader I/O boards store hand geometry templates for user matching in the reader. Our new PW-6000 reader board, to be launched this year, also will support Bioscrypt fingerprint sensors.

Q. What does Honeywell offer for biometric authentication?

A. We offer biometric readers and panel/software support in the physical access control system. Biometric readers perform authentication of an individual using data stored in the system or on a smart card. Software options make it easy to enroll user templates onto cards, while panels facilitate template storage as part of the system for non-smart card technologies.

Q. As a result of heightened security, do you see more businesses adopting biometric technology?

A. As concerns grow regarding security and risk management, technology needed to implement procedures to address these concerns is keeping pace. Biometric technology is no longer restricted to certain markets such as government facilities, but is widening in scope to become useful in other vertical markets, including schools, healthcare and financial services.

This article originally appeared in the January 2007 issue of Security Products, pg. 52.

About the Author

Security Products magazine and site provides information on integrated product and technology solutions for security professionals. It is an 1105 Mediasite.

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