TycoIS partnering with EyeLock to enhance biometric offerings

BOCA RATON, Fla.—Tyco Integrated Security, a national security systems integrator based here, will partner with EyeLock LLC, a company that specializes in iris-based identity authentication solutions, to offer iris identity authentication technology to its customers.

“We support all of the biometric technology out there today, but what I really like about the iris identification technology is that it is no-touch, which I think is becoming more and more important for our customers today,” Joe Oliveri, TycoIS vice president and general manager, told Security Systems News. “Iris also has a very effective false-alarm rate, something like 1 in 1.5 million times where you get a false alarm, because of the way it scans the iris and the unique signature of the iris.”

Oliveri pointed out that iris indentification is ideal “any place where you want that extra level of protection, such as an ER room,” he said. “And with the price point where it is now, the technology is becoming more mainstream, and you can even use it at elevators, or for visitor identification—so there a lot of uses now with this price point.”

The iris authentication technology looks at more than 240 unique iris characteristics, and utilizes dual-eye authentication. EyeLock's portable template allows mobile-enabled users the convenience of hands-free and true two-factor authentication. Oliveri pointed out while facial features and fingerprints can change, the iris remains intact as you age, “so it is a very good solution that doesn't get altered as you grow older,” he said.

Anthony Antolino, chief marketing and business development officer for EyeLock said in the announcement that this partnership “marks a major milestone in the growth and widespread market adoption of iris-based identity authentication as the game-changing biometric measure in the field of security and access control. We are excited to offer our Iris Identity Authentication Technology to TycoIS customers.”

Oliveri said that this partnership with EyeLock shows how much TycoIS has been focusing on innovation and technology.

“We have a technology center in Tel Aviv, Israel, and we work with emerging technologies that are in development, and we partner with them, invest in them and help them promote their products, so we are always looking for new concepts and new technologies that we can bring to market or champion to help our customers,” said Oliveri. “We want to be a technology leader—a company that is leading the way and showing our customers new solutions.”

Tyco Integrated Security, a business unit of Tyco International, has more than 6,000 employees across 81 locations in business communities throughout North America, providing business security services to more than 500,000 customers. The company, which is a leader in commerical security systems integration, is having an “excellent year,” said Oliveri.

He continued, “We have been on a really good upward trend for several years, and the growth this year has exceeded my expectations. We also have focused a lot on vertical markets—healthcare, higher education, government and banking—which has allowed us to really grow our business.”