Interview with Roger van Diepen, CEO of Touchless Biometric Systems

FB
Can you provide our readers with a brief background of the company?

TBS
TBS was founded in 2003, in Switzerland, and from that time on we have been developing our touchless biometric technology; we are a Swiss company with subsidiaries in both Germany and in the United States.

FB
For the benefit of our readers, would you please run through the advantages of your touchless technology?

TBS
Yes certainly; within the touchless technology — and I would go so far as to say in all biometrics — it is the image quality that is crucial. Therefore, the fingerprint sensors are the single most important factor for ensuring that one obtains correct matching results. Different sensors generate different quality images and, of course, the limitations of legacy technology, such as the FTIR sensors, are well-known. People with so-called “difficult fingerprints”, —which applies for about 5% of the users—, produce a very limited image; we are bridging that gap from 95% to 100%. Consequently, our technology’s superior optical quality, along with the coverage of a wider area of the finger, means that the touchless images contain much more details, including even, third level features of the finger structure. Since capture is only triggered when the finger is correctly positioned, images have excellent stability and therefore, similarity. This then, the broader image, as well as the enhanced quality, leads to better matching results, and ultimately, to a higher level of security.

FB
And when you say, “the third level”, as you are describing the image, exactly what are you referring to?

TBS
Well, third level details are related to the ridge structure within the finger; we’re talking about things such as inter-ridge details, scars, or like sweat pores; so, those types of details.

FB
It is my understanding that you are offering a Ten-print solution, as well as the single finger product; would you please outline your ten-finger solution for our readers? As well, I believe, this technology was developed with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, is that correct?

TBS
Yes, that is correct. The development of this world-novelty of our Touchless Ten Printer was enabled when we were endowed with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
This Touchless Ten-Printer has been developed in order to be able to capture all ten rolled-equivalent fingerprints, in a touchless way, and in less than 60 seconds. This product is specifically designed for civil and criminal identification purposes. Of course, this is a big step forward from the current methodology where those rolled fingers have to be captured individually by rolling them one-by-one on a platen. The TBS BioGuard Ten,— or, the TBS Ten-printer, as we are referring to it,-- is capable of capturing the fingerprint touchlessly in a 4-by-4-by-2 dimension within 60 seconds. However, it is not simply the speed of the capture process alone that is making all the difference, it is also the generated images themselves which are, by far, outperforming existing technology in terms of the captured finger area, and the resulting quality. The rolled-equivalent images coming from the touchless TBS Ten-printer contain much more information, --again, including third level details—and these images are available in 2D as well as 3D, and are fully compatible with images from the legacy databases.

FB
Is this product on the market now?

TBS
This product is currently in the phase of field-testing, and, depending upon the test results, serial production is anticipated for 2010/2011.

FB
You also, TBS, have recently been recognized by Frost & Sullivan with their Product Innovation of the Year Award; can you tell us about that please?

TBS
Yes indeed; we have been awarded the Frost & Sullivan Award and TBS is very proud to announce that Frost & Sullivan has recognized our company with the 2008 Product Innovation of the Year Award. To quote their website, http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?docid=153007446
“This award acknowledges TBS’ development of the world’s first and only touchless and 3D fingerprint sensor. The company’s innovations set a new level of security, usability and convenience in fingerprint identification.” Of course, this award, for us, is clear proof that we are moving in the right direction, and that our products—especially in this touchless environment—provide the user with key benefits in terms of usability as well an in the area of convenience. I’ll quote Frost & Sullivan’s analyst, Matia Grossi, who said, “an experienced operator may take several minutes to roll the fingers of an individual, one-by-one; even if a person does not have so-called “difficult” fingerprints”, pointing out that we at TBS do it within 60 seconds with all ten fingers, and that, with much more detailed information of the fingerprint.

FB
Could you please briefly run through your product line-up for our readers?

TBS
Our product line-up consists of a complete portfolio of terminals, which are either fully stand-alone and/or, are also network based terminals. These terminals can easily be used for access control, or time-and-attendance applications.
The terminals are available in both our touchless technology, i.e., the touchless 3D technology, as well as in the touch-based technology. Therefore, I tend to refer to them as “state-of-the-art” optical sensors. Added to this line, we have a touch-based outdoor sensor; this sensor is fully suitable for outdoor use, being fully protected against water and any environmental influences. This then works in tandem with a door-controller. All hardware products come with server software for easy enrollment, administration and reporting.. We anticipate that, in the near future, this portfolio will also be completed by adding an outdoor version of the touchless sensor. We will show our complete product range at the upcoming BCC in Tampa, Florida, at the Biometrics 2009 in London as well as at the Sicherheit in Zurich.

FB
Which vertical markets would you say your products are best suited for?

TBS
Well, actually, we have our concentration mainly focused on access-control, time-and-attendance monitoring, along with the civil and criminal identification; so those would be our main vertical markets. From there, we’re looking to create further market segmentation in terms of business solutions, home solutions, and government solutions. There is additional and more detailed information regarding these sector splits on our website on the topic of what it is that we offer in each of these markets; for example, access control systems, network solutions, time-and-attendance, along with the easy method of system integration. This is a key point and worth mentioning in this interview, the fact that our products are designed with the objective of being straightforward in terms of network integration. This therefore, makes it very simple to set them up in a network, or to distribute the data to the terminals, it is all a matter of simply being “plug & play”, so to speak.

FB
That is very important, these days, being able to marry-in with legacy systems. So, what can we expect to see from TBS in the near future?

TBS
Well, as I previously said, we are focusing on coming out with a touchless out-door solution in the very near future.
Then, looking further on down the road, and since we are continually looking to expand our portfolio, we are extending our server software by adding new modules and features, we might be integrating additional types of sensors into our system and of course we want to see the Ten-Printer solution on the market. Another topic is a touchless mobile application.

FB
Well Roger, thank you very much for filling us in on the company, and congratulations on the Frost & Sullivan Award. findBIOMETRICS has been following your company for a few years now and it is wonderful to see that you have made such great strides in bringing your products to market. We look forward to seeing some of the new things that you have just described for us coming out as well.

TBS
You’re welcome, and thanks for your time Peter. 

Please visit: www.tbsinc.com/