LUND, Sweden, Feb. 19, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- SchlumbergerSema, a business unit of Schlumberger Limited, and Precise Biometrics announced today the integration of the Precise Biometrics Match-on-Card(tm) technology with the SchlumbergerSema Cyberflex Access(tm) and Cyberflex Palmera(tm) Java(tm)-based smart cards. The integration enables SchlumbergerSema to bring to market smart cards that use the card-owner's fingerprint as identification authentication instead of, or in addition to, a personal identification number (PIN).
The SchlumbergerSema cards were the first Visa Open Platform JavaCard(tm) 2.1 smart cards with cryptographic capabilities to make the Match-on-Card application possible last year, and are now the first to put this capability into the application programming interface (API), as proposed to the Java Card Forum. These developments follow the signing of a joint agreement between the two companies.
Precise Biometrics' groundbreaking fingerprint authentication system is highly secure and convenient to use; authenticating the user by matching the fingerprint to one digitally stored on the smart card. This capability offers increased security and ease-of-use since the sensitive data is computed directly on the card without the need to rely on the availability or speed of a network for validation. With the biometric profile and the calculations remaining inside the smart card, the risk of this information being compromised is virtually eliminated. This most recent innovation allows the authentication capability to be directly accessed via the cards API, greatly improving the performance and allowing other card applications to easily use the function.
"Verifying a digital imprint with the user's actual fingerprint is a highly-secure means of authentication, but has remained a major challenge because the critical data for authenticating the fingerprint had to be stored on the network," stated Marten Obrink, deputy CEO at Precise Biometrics. "Today, SchlumbergerSema advanced smart cards can perform this task adding a highly portable layer of security for sensitive logical access applications such as network access, as well as acting as personal biometric tokens for increased security in physical access installations. Working with established standards and technology leaders like SchlumbergerSema provides us the opportunity to rapidly reach users, corporations and government agencies to deploy fingerprint technology into existing infrastructures. With the new match-on-card capability, we expect to see an increasingly large deployment of fingerprint authentication applications in the near future."
"With the current discussions around card-based identity solutions, our industry is ready to accept the challenge to bring the security capability of the cards up to the high level expected by the public," stated Paul Beverly, vice president of eTransactions, SchlumbergerSema, North America. "With smart cards rapidly becoming mainstream technology, the benefits of quickly, effectively and securely verifying the owners' identity -- without the need to access a network -- becomes very important. The card is the ideal portable object for secure identification, while respecting the owner's privacy."
SchlumbergerSema is the leading provider of secure, convenient smart card-based solutions for corporations, financial institutions, government and wireless operators. SchlumbergerSema is unique in providing a full suite of cards, terminals, software, applications, as well as worldwide service deployment capabilities, including consulting, system integration and managed services.
Prepared for innovative, next generation applications, the Cyberflex Access and Cyberflex Palmera smart cards are designed to complement any existing card infrastructure, enabling easy migration to new smart applications, while providing continuity for current customers to preserve their investment in existing terminals, networks and other equipment. SchlumbergerSema offers the Cyberflex Access card for IT applications, and the Cyberflex Palmera card for banking applications.
About Precise Biometrics
Precise Biometrics AB, Europe's leading biometrics company, markets in-house developed products and systems for biometric* identification using fingerprints. The products replace passwords, PINs and ID cards in IT, telecom and pass systems. Precise Biometrics was started in Lund, Sweden, in 1997 by Nils Bernhard, Marten Obrink and Christer Fahraeus and has today 60 employees. The company has its head office in Lund, Sweden, an associate office in Stockholm, and a subsidiary in Washington D.C., USA. The company's shares are quoted on the Stockholm Exchange's O-list. For additional information please go to www.precisebiometrics.com.
* Biometrics is the technical analysis of biological data for verifying a person's identity.
About SchlumbergerSema
SchlumbergerSema is a leading information technology services company providing consulting, systems integration, managed services and products to the telecommunications, energy and utilities, finance, transport and public sector markets. With more than 30,000 employees serving customers in 65 countries, SchlumbergerSema is one of two business segments of Schlumberger Limited, a global technology services company. For more information about SchlumbergerSema, visit http://www.slb.com.
Cyberflex Access and Cyberflex Palmera are trademarks of Schlumberger. Java and JavaCard are trademarks of Sun Microsystems. Match-on-Card is a trademark of Precise Biometrics.