OREANDA-NEWS. Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Industry & Control Solutions, Ltd. ("Hitachi Industry & Control") announced today that they have developed a new type of finger vein authentication terminal offering substantially improved authentication accuracy and speed. The terminal is to be incorporated in the physical access control system named "SecuaVeinAttestor", which will be sold in Japan from the middle of October, 2015. Moreover, the system will be introduced progressively overseas, mainly in Asia.

Compared to the conventional models, the new terminal uses a sequential fusion technique to reduce the false acceptance rate to 1/15 of the rate of existing models, while increasing the authentication speed approximately three-fold. This enables the system to authenticate a large number of people smoothly using finger veins alone, without requiring any media such as an IC card.

The terminal has been made even more compact body, at less than half the width size of existing models, enabling installation in a wider variety of locations. Furthermore, since it is compatible with the existing models in terms of finger vein data and interface, it can be also used to update only or add further installations of the authentication terminal component of the access control system that has already been installed.

Hitachi and Hitachi Industry & Control will promote sales of this system and other security solutions for facilities requiring a high level of security, such as food, pharmaceutical and other such factories, data centers, research facilities, financial and public institutions, and public facilities such as airports.

Hitachi's finger vein authentication technology is characterized by being extremely difficult to impersonate or counterfeit compared with other biometric authentication methods based on fingerprints, facial recognition, or voice, since it uses a characteristic biological pattern that is inside the body. It is also highly accurate, uses compact equipment easy to install, and is simple to use. It has been introduced in many instances for various applications including the physical access control systems, ATMs at financial institutions, and PC logins. Looking ahead, an increase in demand will be expected in the areas, such as the Social Security and Tax Number System, protection of personal information, internal control, anti-terrorism measures, and increased security for crime prevention.

In the field of physical access control, the finger vein authentication system has been introduced in various security settings since their commercialization in 2002, including offices, server rooms, data centers, airports, and factories. Until now, the system that used finger veins alone has been used for situations requiring authentication of a small number of people. For situations involving a large number of people, the system combining finger veins and IC cards have been used. Recently, however, demand for authentication of large numbers of people using only finger veins has been growing.

Reasons include needs to authenticate people in corridors without using IC cards or keypads, situations such as food processing plants where authentication media cannot be carried in due to hygiene controls, and difficulty in issuing and collecting IC cards in workplaces where staff numbers fluctuate significantly. To maintain security levels and carry out authentication of large numbers of people without causing stress, high precision and high- speed authentication is required.

To answer this demand, Hitachi and Hitachi Industry & Control have developed a new finger vein authentication terminal. The new terminal applies the continuous fusion technique that is already used in embedded finger vein authentication devices for equipment such as a safe and a terminal for time and attendance, and it reduces the false acceptance rate to 1/15 of the rate of existing models at approximately 1/15 million. It also utilizes a high-speed CPU to increase 1:N authentication speed approximately three-fold to approximately 10,000 fingers per second. This enables high-precision and high- speed authentication with finger veins alone, even with a large number of users. Moreover, the new terminal can be installed in various locations as it features a vertical configuration that has made it even more compact body, by reducing the width to less than half of existing models at 89 mm, in compliance with IP44 water proof standard (splash proof), and an outer case that can be removed for painting. The operability and design have also been improved by adopting a color LCD touch panel.

Hitachi and Hitachi Industry & Control will incorporate the new terminal into the facility management solution, as well as the comprehensive physical access control solution for "Hitachi Access Control System". The two companies also plan to respond to the increasing needs for enhanced security at corporations and public facilities and furthermore contribute to the development of a safe and secure society.