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NEC Australia enhances public safety through biometrics

Announcement posted by NEC Australia 30 Nov 2011

NEC Australia showcases latest biometrics technologies at the 7th Biometrics Institute Technology Showcase & Exhibition in Canberra
Canberra - 30 November 2011 - NEC Australia, a leading communications systems integrator, announced that it is showcasing its cutting-edge biometrics technologies and solutions at the 7th Biometrics Institute Technology Showcase & Exhibition in Canberra today. Several NEC innovations aimed at enhancing public safety worldwide will be demonstrated at the event, including:

1.               Facial recognition

NEC’s facial surveillance strengthens security and criminal investigations by warning security personnel whenever travellers are identified as individuals registered on watch lists. NEC's facial surveillance system utilises advanced surveillance cameras, face recognition technology, and facial image databases to deliver accurate verification regardless of age differences, race, face angle or lighting. It helps identify the target person using facial features matched against CCTV video clips. This technology can search over 1 million records per second.

2.               Fingerprint identification – AFIS solution

NEC’s fingerprint algorithm, including automated latent processing, has been proven to be one of the most accurate according to several benchmark tests performed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)[1], agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NEC's high accuracy rate is achieved by the integration of improved matching technologies, such as a low-confidence minutiae adaptive matching algorithm, a zone matching algorithm, and recently developed image processing technologies specialised for latent fingerprints, such as a latent background noise removal algorithm and a low-quality fingerprint ridge recognition algorithm. NEC’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is the first AFIS that uses ridge counts and relationships between minutiae in its matching algorithm and delivers unparalleled accuracy, speed and flexibility demanded by law enforcement agencies to do their jobs more efficiently.

3.               LiveScan  

NEC’s LiveScan provides the ability to dynamically set data interchanges and business rules, quickly attain FBI certifications, and adapt to new scanner hardware. It allows for quick adaptation to legislation changes and law enforcement needs, and minimises redundant data entry through a full, two-way XML data interchange. LiveScan software is easily supportable with single-click automatic upgrades and centralised software monitoring capabilities, enabling rapid deployment with minimum technical or biometrics expertise required.

Lance Heather, senior manager of biometrics at NEC Australia states; “The NEC LiveScan system provides flexibility, speed, accuracy and the use of the latest scanner technology to enable law enforcement the ease of capturing finger and palm prints. In addition, the LiveScan application provides active transaction reporting across all activities and allows the user to tailor individual reports that best fits the business”.

4.               DNA identification - World’s first Portable DNA Analyser analyses DNA in 25 minutes at crime scene

This world's first fully integrated portable DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) analyser developed by NEC helps speed up criminal investigations and aid crime prevention efforts on site. Portable enough to be carried to crime scenes, it integrates all five important steps of the DNA analysis process: cell collection, DNA extraction, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), electrophoresis and STR analysis. Traditional DNA analysis requires an entire day to complete, which makes it difficult to produce quick shortlists of suspects, but with NEC's new portable DNA analyser, the entire DNA analysis process can be quickly completed at the crime scene and produces results in 25 minutes. 

5.               Mobile identification

The ability to positively identify individuals and uphold public safety should not be restricted by location.  Law enforcement officers need to have access to critical identification information wherever duty takes them.  NEC’s IDcheck application, the proven in-field fingerprint identification solution solves this challenge for law enforcement agencies.  IDcheck is a software application designed to be integrated with any mobile capture device to provide an efficient and practical identification tool for officers in the field. NEC’s mobile identification solutions capture facial signatures and match them against a watchlist data base.

Peter Ives, Biometrics specialist at NEC Australia states; “NEC is a global leader in biometric technologies, where we deliver the most advanced identification, security and public safety solutions for law enforcement, public sector, and commercial applications. Leveraging NEC’s avant-garde technologies in identity solutions, some of which are ranked as the world’s most accurate systems, NEC has a strong and experienced team of sales and technical staff with in-depth knowledge in serving the needs of the global public safety market. In line with our concept of “safer cities”, we look forward to bring our best-of-breed and most efficient security technologies and solutions to law enforcement agencies worldwide to help them safeguard both the physical and virtual world.”

NEC’s integrated security solutions and technologies such as its cutting-edge biometrics authentication technologies are amongst the world’s best, as demonstrated by its leading position in biometrics authentication accredited by the NIST[2]. Over the last 30 years, NEC has installed its biometric identification systems for more than 480 customers in more than 30 countries, making it one of the most renowned biometric specialists and the world’s leading technology supplier of fingerprint biometrics for both law enforcement and identity management applications.

-Ends-

Note:

[1]  NEC’s press release : NEC Fingerprint Matching Technology Ranked No. 1 by the NIST - Automatic processing returns 97.2% accuracy from latent prints and NIST’s “NISTIR 7577-ELFT Phase II - An Evaluation of Automated Latent Fingerprint Identification Technologies”.

[2]  Notable NIST test results: Finger Print

-FpVTE2003 (Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation 2003) - 1st Rank

-SlapSeg04 (Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation 2004) - 1st Rank

-SDK Study (Software Development Kit Study for Fingerprint 2004 - 1st Rank

-PFT Study (Proprietary Fingerprint Template Testing) - 1st Rank in 2007

-ELFT07 Phase II (Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technology) - 1st Rank in 2009 Face recognition

-Ranked No.1 in Still Face Challenge Problem of MBGC (Multiple Biometric Grand Challenge) held by NIST in 2008-2009

(NIST test results do not constitute endorsement of any particular system by the government. For more information, visit www.nist.gov.)

For media enquiries please contact:

Angela Coombes

Public Relations Manager

NEC Australia

T: 02 9930 2464

M: 0417 805 441 

E: angela.coombes@nec.com.au

About NEC Australia

NEC Australia is a leading communications systems integrator delivering ICT, communications and network solutions to enterprises, government, small businesses