Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

Biometric reader from SecuGen added to GSA list

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

The Hamster IV fingerprint reader, which was already approved by the FBI for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) use, is now approved for FIPS 201 use by the US General Services Administration (GSA). It is added to other SecuGen approved products such as the MINEX (fingerprint template generator and matcher algorithms) to make a complete FIPS 201 biometric solution.


SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire/ – SecuGen is pleased to announce the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) approval of the Hamster IV(TM), SecuGen’s FBI-certified, high image quality fingerprint reader. In addition to SecuGen’s MINEX-certified fingerprint template generator and matcher algorithms, the Hamster IV is now available for government-wide acquisition through GSA’s Approved Products List (APL) for FIPS 201 implementations.

The Hamster IV was recently certified by the FBI as compliant with the requirements for single finger capture devices to be used for the Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employee and Contractors as defined by FIPS 201 and mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12.

“The GSA’s confirmation of our extensively tested core fingerprint technologies is yet another affirmation of SecuGen’s dedication to quality and compliance,” stated Won Lee, President and CEO of SecuGen. “SecuGen’s goal has always been to bring the highest quality and affordability to the commercial biometrics market through innovative optical methods, manufacturing quality assurance techniques and competitive software technologies. This is the reason that so many of our partners have been loyal to SecuGen over the years, and we’re excited to enable them to bring this high-end affordability to the government sector.”

John Kim, Vice President of Hardware Development for SecuGen, added, “We are very pleased to have been listed on the GSA’s FIPS 201 Approved Products List. We believe that the new federal government standards for image quality and matching algorithm performance will be of tremendous value to the users of fingerprint technology. For the first time there are rigorous, well-designed tests being run by a neutral third party, the US government. In the long run, this will be an incalculable benefit to end-users and the industry as well.”

About SecuGen SecuGen is the world’s leading provider of advanced, optical fingerprint recognition technology, products, tools and platforms for physical and information security. SecuGen designs and develops proprietary and patented fingerprint sensors and algorithms and markets OEM components, developer kits, application software and fingerprint peripherals worldwide for a wide range of applications. SecuGen is a registered trademark of SecuGen Corporation in the United States and other countries.

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With the TrustPoint product, users enter a PIN into the reader. The reader then performs a biometric finger scan and completes a one-to-one match between it and the biometric template stored on a PIV credential, a process that takes less than two seconds. The smart card reader also verifies the templates digital signature.

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SecuGen announced that the General Services Administration added two of its fingerprint scanners to the FIPS 201 Evaluation Program Approved Products list.

The solutions, which are both compliant with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Personal Identity Verification FIPS 201 standard, are the Hamster IV v2 fingerprint reader and ID-USB SC/PIV v2 combined fingerprint and smart card reader.

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