fB
Your company was founded in 1991 -- can you give us a brief background of the company?

PD
Yes, the company was founded in 1991 and its charter or mission was to create an open architecture Time and Attendance product line. So we looked through the markets to try to figure out what would be needed and we were really the first US manufacturer of a "C" downloadable programmable type box – Panasonic was ahead of us but we were the first US manufacturer.

From there we got our first big order from Wal-Mart in late 1991, and from there we have tried to channel the company to be an OEM base, or more selling to software partners, Wal-Mart being the exception. So most of our business goes through the best third party software providers today.

fB
Can you tell us when and how Accu-Time became involved in Biometrics?

PD
We got involved in Biometrics in the mid 90s when one of our software business partners was describing a problem with Buddy punching at one of their customers, and we thought that we would like to use a biometric device. From there we searched the market and introduced our first generation product around l996. Based on our work at that time we applied for some patents on the technology that we had developed which have been since issued, and we were the first to have a totally integrated time and attendance terminal using, at that time, fingerprint.

From there we expanded into finger geometry which we currently provide and have now re-introduced a new fingerprint unit which is based on technology that we feel is better, quicker, faster and cheaper.

fB
Now can you describe your current biometrics product line-up?

PD
Yes, we have basically a full line of products that are from entry level to full feature. We have two major categories of products - the SensoryCentury Series which is our current product line that we did years ago and is still in production, to our new Cyber Series, which has fingerprint and finger geometry.

In geometry, it's the length width and girth of the two fingers - in fingerprint we are looking at the sub-dermal layer of the skin where the ridges and valleys are forming for the fingerprint technology. So it is really up to the end user or business partner which technology they want to use. Some prefer the geometry because it doesn’t have fingerprint associated with it, which also brings about the image of the FBI and big brother watching. So they can use the geometry or they can go fingerprint if they feel they need to have the sense of more security, more data collected off the fingerprint template or finger geometry template.

fB
Do you often find that as a significant obstacle - the concern about the "fingerprint-FBI" scenario?

PD
That does come up, which is why geometry tends to do well because clearly, that is not a fingerprint, it is just a 3-dimension image that cannot be left behind as it would in a crime scene. However , the technology that we are using for fingerprint is taking several points of the fingerprint, not the whole fingerprint, therefore it cannot be used - it certainly wouldn't have the quality of being used for the FBI or AFIS quality fingerprint.

fB
Once your solution is deployed, do you find that employees become very accustomed to it?

PD
That's a good question because what usually happens is that employees are not trained properly to use it because of the skewing or not placing the finger or fingers in a similar location every time there could be some delays in using the product. If they are trained properly and understand what we are looking for, it works much better and the acceptance level is very high.

fB
What applications are best suited for your products? You are recognized as an industry leader in the time and attendance field, what other areas or applications are a good fit?

PD
Well, since the time and attendance seems to be a good place to go and start because you can cost justify very quickly by reducing or eliminating buddy punching. Once the fingerprint or the finger geometry is employed it is a natural progression to fall into access control, as companies want to secure maybe the back door or the employees entrance, which tends to be unsupervised. We can open the door based on a schedule or priority code once you read the fingerprint or the finger geometry. So it is flowing into physical access control. Though we are not really providing products it’s also logical access control where you need to present a finger or two fingers into a reader before you can gain access to a PC or the local area network.

fB
I think that makes absolute sense and I think it is the way the industry is starting to head. If you are using it for one application, why not transfer that to a number of different applications where, as you mentioned, access or logical fits well.

Can you tell us some of the advantages of a biometric time and attendance solution and perhaps describe a typical deployment for us?

PD
Well one of the obvious one is the buddy punching or ghosting. Ghosting is when someone punches in for another employee who doesn’t show up for the whole day. Those clearly are cost savings, but the other part of it too is for privacy when an employee wants to see how many hours they have worked or gain access to some of their records through the time and attendance system, because it is biometric, only they can get access to what their pay rate might be or their 401K contribution.

Because the time and attendance device is now becoming more of an information station, we are providing products that are very well suited for self-service applications in various enterprises.

An employee can ask for a day off through the device rather than trying to find supervisor who is a very expensive resource and disturbing what they might be doing, it can all be done through the internet and e-mail the supervisor who can look at all the various requests for a day off and just approve them all within 5 minutes, rather than getting 10 or 12 interruptions during the day which can consume hours.

fB
So if I was an employee, I could go in, use my biometric access, and find for example how many days I have had off so far and how many I have left to fit into my holiday schedule.

PD
Exactly!

fB
Do you have any new product announcements coming up, Peter?

PD
Yes, we have expanded Cyber Series products that will be full screen, touch sensitive screens, which are called a fiCyber touch station. That works really well when you want to do other browser-based applications, such as, going to the 401K or taking your benefits spending or your flexible spending account. We are also working with wireless - Wi-Fi. So that if you have an existing backbone, even though the clocks are hung on the wall, in certain areas you may want to move them around and of course one of the most expensive parts of the system is the installation, pulling wires. This eliminates that cost, especially if you are going to be in an old building or you mount it down in the basement somewhere where you don’t know what the wiring costs are going to be, we can provide some wireless points.

fB
You are an international company. You have offices in the US and Great Britain. Do you find the acceptance of biometric solutions greater in US or in Europe?

PD
Well, that is a good question. Europe seemed to be embracing the technology slightly quicker than the US until 9/11. We seem to have a lot of interest in biometrics as one of several ways of securing the borders, the buildings, the people, and what the Homeland Security is recommending is three layers of security which would be - what you know - your PIN, what you possess - the credential, the ID that you have, and who you are - which would be the biometric template whether it is facial, finger, geometry and so on. So if you use all three it makes it virtually impossible to foil the system.

fB
If you were to gaze into the future and look at the biometric industry five years down the road, what might you see?

PD
I think the acceptance level is going to keep on snowballing, not only in business enterprise but in the consumer level, whether it is a biometric device on the door of your garage or on the door of your car, to even at some point toys and other devices. I think that this generation - not our generation but the generation behind us - is accepting it more than we probably would have and certainly more than our parents would have, and this is going to continue so that even the generation after this will just take it for granted, it will be everywhere.

fB
Thank you very much for your time today.

PD
It has been my pleasure Peter.

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