Written by 
Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Frontech Limited have announced the addition of two new products – the FUJITSU Biometric Authentication PalmSecure-F Pro, which is a sensor that can be embedded into equipment, and the FUJITSU Biometric Authentication Palm Vein Authentication Board – to their line of palm vein authentication devices.
Sales of the new products will commence in late October. In addition to dramataically easing the conditions for installation and usage environment by improving operability and environmental tolerance, and becoming slimmer, PalmSecure-F Pro features greater identification accuracy, and provides greater functionality for identifying individuals from among a huge database of registered palm vein data. In addition, offering the Palm Vein Authentication Board with embedded software enables application to devices with embedded-type operating systems, which previously had been difficult.
As a result, whereas applications had previously centered on PC login and room access devices, scenarios for use can now be expanded to such equipment as multifunction copiers, vaults, and lockers, allowing companies to standardize their internal authentication method with palm vein authentication. Fujitsu and Fujitsu Frontech will also seek to grow their presence into new markets, such as using palm vein authentication for “walletless” payments in lieu of cash or credit cards, or as an alternative to keys for residences or vehicles.
In recent years, to prevent damage caused by information leaks and identity fraud, biometric authentication technologies are becoming more prevalent. Among these technologies, palm vein authentication, which reads the pattern of veins in the palm, offers the benefits of being highly accurate and difficult to forge, with superior authentication performance. These features are why it is used by over 70 million people around the world in such applications as verifying customer identity at a bank ATM, for PC access management in companies, and for room access management. Excellent authentication accuracy and convenience have led to rising demand to embed palm vein authentication in a variety of equipment, with needs to expand the number of operating systems that can run it, and to enhance environment tolerance, such as to temperature extremes and sunlight.
While maintaining support for the vein templates of PalmSecure Sensor V2, available since 2010, PalmSecure-F Pro is more compact, has improved operability, and greater tolerance to sunlight. These enhancements make it possible to overcome size and sunlight exposure limitations which previously had made embedding into equipment difficult. The Palm Vein Authentication Board is a compact, smartcard-sized control board with firmware that processes such functions as image capture, registration, and authentication. Previously, use of palm vein authentication was restricted to such operating systems as Windows and Linux, but this product makes it possible to build vein authentication systems that are independent of the operating system.
These two products will be exhibited at the Fujitsu Frontech booth at the 18th Auto-ID & Communication Expo, which will be held from Wednesday, September 14, to Friday, September 16, at Tokyo Big Sight.