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The two companies have been working together for years, the two CEOs go back even longer. Now, Bundesdruckerei has acquired a 22.43 percent share in Hamburg-based Dermalog Identification Systems GmbH. The acquisition becomes retroactively effective as of 30 June 2012.
The investment is of direct strategic importance, according to the statement issued by Bundesdruckerei. In recent years, the company has become a technological supplier of increasingly complex ID security systems. Automated fingerprint systems are becoming increasingly important in the field of Secure ID. “Dermalog allows us to strengthen our position as a full-service supplier along the entire ID process chain. It also offers interesting prospects for growth while at the same time expanding our already very high innovative capacity,” says Ulrich Hamann, CEO of Bundesdruckerei.
According to expert estimates, the global market volume for biometric solutions and products is somewhere in the region of US$7.6bn. By 2022, this market will grow by around 16 percent each year (source: Visiongain 2012).
Dermalog is a provider of automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS). The supplier is currently working on AFIS projects in Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The company’s product and services portfolio also includes AFIS installations for the administration and public sector, border control systems and fingerprint payment systems.
Bundesdruckerei and Dermalog have already worked together successfully in the past: The majority of the around 19,000 fingerprint scanners for the German ePassport system were supplied by the Hamburg-based company. Dermalog employs a staff of around 80.
Both companies are also expecting to see significant synergies thanks to co-operation between their development departments. According to Hamann: “Dermalog is an expert in biometrics and database technology and we have demonstrated our solutions know-how in the management of secure identities, also in complex projects such as the introduction of the new German ID card. The result is now a perfect blend of competence.”
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