“Don’t forget that we have the call with the new consultant today,” Jane reminded Deborah.
Deborah groaned. “I’m dreading this.”
“Why?” asked Jane.
“Remember the last consultant we brought in? We spent an hour explaining the difference between a bifurcation and a ridge ending. And the writer was completely confused by the difference between FRTE and FATE.”
Jane reassured Deborah, “This one will be better. He’s been employed by Incode, IDEMIA, MorphoTrak-“
Deborah interrupted her. “Morpho who? I’ve been in this industry eight years and I’ve never heard of a company called MorphoTrak.”
“Well, he worked for them for almost a decade,” Jane clarified. “And before that he worked for Motorola and Printrak. Check these notes.”
Deborah read the notes. “He can’t spell. Sometimes he spells ABIS with a B, sometimes with an F. And what’s this about an Electronic FINGERPRINT Transmission Specification? There is no such document.”
“You can ask him. He’s in the videoconference waiting room.”
The call
They launched the call, and the consultant joined.
Deborah started the questioning. “We need a writer who has worked in biometrics before. I have eight years of experience myself, and I don’t have time to teach a writer about the industry. When did you start working with biometrics?”
“1994,” the consultant replied. “Back when I wrote about automated fingerprint identification systems because multi-biometric systems hadn’t been invented yet. Even the FBI was still publishing an Electronic Fingerprint Transmission Specification, rather than an Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification. No Type 10 in the EFTS, needless to say.”
“I see,” Deborah quietly said.
The consultant continued. “But don’t worry. I’ve worked with more than friction ridges. I’ve also worked with faces, both for identity and for age estimation. I guess I was fated to do that.” He paused, then continued. “Let’s just say I know why Gender Shades had nothing to do with leading FRTE algorithms.”
“Gender shades?” Deborah was confused.
“I’ve also worked with irises, voices, and rapid DNA. And driver’s licenses, passports, geolocation, and somewhat you…never mind. And all sorts of standards. Which reminds me: are you going for PAD Level 3 or IAL 3? Both are becoming more important, and you don’t want to get left behind.”
Deborah was baffled. “We will have to get back to you on this PAD item. But do you understand the difference between a ridge ending and a bifurcation?”
“Mirror image, when you think about it,” the consultant replied, “except that minutiae placements differ between each AFIS vendor…I mean ABIS vendor.”
Deborah didn’t respond.
Well, let’s leave this call and return to YOUR biometric company’s needs.
To find out about THIS consultant’s biometric product marketing expertise, visit my page on the topic.
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