In October 2023, on the occasion of the launch of the Prism Project, Bredemarket published a blog post entitled “The Big 3, or 4, or 5? Through the Years.”
Through many years.
The post discussed the evolution of the large Automated Fingerprint Identification System vendors, now large Automated Biometric System vendors that support face and other biometric modalities.
And the evolution will continue.
From 1986 to March 2009
Although I could have gone back to Autonetics in the 1960s, I didn’t. I started my version of the story in the 1980s, when the “big 3” were:
- De La Rue Printrak.
- Morpho Systems.
- NEC.
The 2023 post detailed a number of changes over the next two decades, including the emergence of new companies, the results of a particular NIST test (FpVTE 2003) that put a temporary damper on my professional life, and some acquisitions.
A lot of acquisitions.
For our purposes I will fast forward to March 2009, when I argue there were a “Big 5”:
- Cogent Systems.
- L-1 Identity Solutions.
- Motorola (my employer).
- NEC.
- Safran.
Sounds nice and neat, but I said to “hang on to your seats.”
From April 2009 to 2011
Because everything changed in the next two years. Here’s how I described it in the 2023 post:
- By 2009, Safran (resulting from the merger of Sagem and Snecma) was an international powerhouse in aerospace and defense and also the had identity/biometric interests. Motorola, in the meantime, was no longer enjoying the success of its RAZR phone and was looking at trimming down (prior to its eventual, um, bifurcation). In response to these dynamics, Safran announced its intent to purchase Motorola’s Biometric Business Unit in October 2008, an effort that was finalized in April 2009. The Biometric Business Unit (adopting its former name Printrak) was acquired by Sagem Morpho and became MorphoTrak. On a personal level, Dorothy Bullard moved out of Proposals and I moved into Proposals, where I got to work with my new best friends that had previously slammed Motorola for losing the Kansas and New Mexico deals. (Seriously, Cindy and Ron are great folks.)
- By 2010, the fiercely independent Cogent was independent no more, having been acquired by 3M. (NEC thought about buying Cogent but didn’t.)
- By 2011, Safran decided that it needed additional identity capabilities, so it acquired L-1 Identity Solutions and renamed the acquisition as MorphoTrust.
From 2011 to 2023
So now there were just three again: 3M, NEC, and Safran. And that’s where we remain today, with some name changes: part of 3M was carved off to become part of Gemalto, part of Safran was carved off to become part of IDEMIA, and all of Gemalto was absorbed by Thales.
So by the time C. Maxine Most identified her “Big 3 ID,” they were:
- IDEMIA.
- NEC.
- Thales.
Looking forward to 2027 or 2028
Why am I returning to my 2023 post? Because if all the required investment, regulatory, and government approvals move forward, and assuming no corporate changes that haven’t yet been announced, the 2027 or 2028 version of the “Big 3” will be:
- Amadeus.
- NEC.
- Thales.
Bredemarket 