Tag Archives: IDEMIA

The Big 3: Only the Names Change

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:

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.

Today’s Acronyms Are NIST, FRIF, TE, E1N, and ROC

ROC (previously known as Rank One Computing) posted this about its latest resukts in the NIST Friction Ridge Image and Features Technology Evaluation Exemplar One-to-Many (FRIF TE E1N) evaluation.

“ROC’s performance in the NIST FRIF TE E1N evaluation, including #1 global ranking in Class B slap fingerprints, a critical capture format for high-scale civil and government identity programs, proves that American technology can now lead at the highest levels of global biometric performance….

“The NIST Friction Ridge Image and Features Technology Evaluation Exemplar One-to-Many evaluation, known as NIST FRIF TE E1N, evaluates one-to-many fingerprint identification at massive scale, testing how accurately algorithms can identify a subject from large enrollment repositories. Across the evaluation, ROC delivered top-tier performance in every category tested, including Class A, Class B, and Class C. “

As with every NIST biometric test, FRIF yields a massive amount of data. Just looking at the Class B slap data alone, here is what you can find, showing the top 7 entries out of 12 for the Class B Left Slap FNIR (another acronym: false negativce identification rate) at rank less than or equal to 10. Even this view excludes all other slap data and all other ranking data (1, 2, and 5).

(Data captured Friday, May 29, 2026 and may become outdated when new algorithms are tested.)

National Institute of Standards and Technology.

With this massive wealth of data, just about every vendor probably performed well in something, which is why ROC took the time to point out why Class B slap results are important.

“ROC’s most significant milestone came in Class B slap fingerprints. This performance is especially important for high-scale ABIS environments, including national ID programs, border management, civil enrollment, and high-stakes criminal justice workflows, where handling immense scale without sacrificing accuracy is mandatory.”

Although ROC may be the only entity trumpeting May results, other vendors have promotede earlier NIST FRIF TE E1N achievements, including IDEMIA, Identy.IO, Innovatrics, and Neurotechnology.

But they’re foreign. (As is Thales Group, for those keeping score.)

My Favorite Line I Wrote Today

From my post this morning on Advent International, Amadeus, and IDEMIA Public Security.

“Plan C became to split IDEMIA into three chunks—biometric product marketing experts call this a “trifurcation”—and sell the three chunks individually.”

Now I have never officially written about trifurcations, but if you saw my post on bifurcations you can probably figure out trifurcations also.

From NIST.

Advent International Plans to Sell IDEMIA Public Security

Amadeus’ planned acquisition of IDEMIA Public Security has been years in the making.

Many years ago, Advent International acquired Oberthur with the intent to sell it at a profit.

But Advent wanted to beef it up.

Meanwhile, Safran wanted to sell a chunk of itself to concentrate on its…(long pause)…transportation business.

The resulting combination was initially named OT MORPHO. It was subsequently renamed IDEMIA.

Wow.

Fast forward to 2022, when Reuters speculated that Advent was about to sell IDEMIA. I wrote about this twice at the time (one, two)…but in the end nothing happened.

Then Advent went to plan C.

  • Plan A was to buy Oberthur and sell it.
  • Plan B was to combine Oberthur with Morpho and sell it.
  • Plan C became to split IDEMIA into three chunks—biometric product marketing experts call this a “trifurcation”—and sell the three chunks individually.

The first chunk moved forward in 2024, when IDEMIA entered negotiations to sell IDEMIA Smart Identity to IN Groupe. These negotiations were successful.

This did not include my former part of IDEMIA, IDEMIA Public Security.

Fast forward two years, when a Spanish company made its intentions known.

“29 April 2026, 8am CEST: Following a competitive bid process, Amadeus today announces its intention to acquire IDEMIA Public Security (IPS), a leading biometrics and identity services provider headquartered in France….It will follow Amadeus’ 2024 acquisition of Vision-Box.”

Now nothing is signed yet, and government approvals will take some time. (I know.) Amadeus’ current estimate is mid 2027, but this could slip.

So I will spend the time watching music videos.

Ooh!

ACE-V and the Innovatrics ABIS (and other ABIS)

Let’s revisit analysis, comparison, evaluation, and verification.

You may recall my post about a collection of judicial decisions, one of which included the following:

“The term “scientific” to describe his opinion “arguably verged on suggesting that the ACE-V process is more scientific than warranted,” and there was one instance in which Dolan testified without using the term “opinion.” The court concludes that there was no error because, “viewed as a whole,” his testimony was largely expressed in terms of an “opinion” and his testimony did not claim that the ACE-V process was infallible or absolutely certain.”

For those who aren’t familiar with the acronym ACE-V, here is how the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology defines it:

“The friction ridge examination process is commonly referred to as ACE‐V: Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification.

“Analysis: An initial information‐gathering phase in which the examiner studies the unknown print to assess the quality and quantity of discriminating detail present. The examiner considers information such as substrate, development method, various levels of ridge detail, and pressure distortions. A separate analysis then occurs with the exemplar.

“Comparison: The side‐by‐side observation of the friction ridge detail in the two impressions to determine the agreement or disagreement in the details

“Evaluation: The examiner assesses the agreement or disagreement of the information observed during Analysis and Comparison and forms a conclusion.

“Verification: In some agencies is a review of an examiner’s conclusions with knowledge of those conclusions; in other agencies, it is an independent re‐examination by a second examiner who does not know the outcome of the first examination.”

To make things easier for latent examiners, some automated biometric identification system (ABIS) software packages incorporate ACE-V either as a separate module or as an integrated part of their workflow. I know that IDEMIA and Thales include it, and it appears that CSIpix, Eviscan, Noblis, and ROC also include it.

But I’m going to talk about Innovatrics in this post.

“Innovatrics is expanding ACE-V capabilities in ABIS for Criminal Investigation with new features that help forensic teams manage examinations more clearly, support different review models, and keep unresolved latent evidence active as investigations move forward….

“ACE-V is widely used in forensic work, but the way it is applied can vary across agencies, regions, and countries, often shaped by local legislative requirements. Some agencies require clear separation between roles, while others rely on smaller teams with a more flexible way of dividing work. Innovatrics is shaping the workflow to support different use cases and agency ACE-V policies, from small teams to large departments, without forcing agencies to change the established workflows they already rely on.”

More here.

Federal Trade Commission Age Verification (and estimation?) Workshop January 28

A dizzying array of federal government agencies is interested in biometric verification and biometric classification, for example by age (either age verification or age estimation). As Biometric Update announced, we can add the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the list with an upcoming age verification workshop.

Rejecting age estimation in 2024

The FTC has a history with this, having rejected a proposed age estimation scheme in 2024.

“Re: Request from Entertainment Software Rating Board, Yoti Ltd., Yoti (USA) Inc., and Kids Web Services Ltd. for Commission Approval of Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule Parental Consent Method (FTC Matter No. P235402)

“This letter is to inform you that the Federal Trade Commission has reviewed your group’s (“the ESRB group”) application for approval of a proposed verifiable parental consent (“VPC”) method under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA” or “the Rule”). At this time, the Commission declines to approve the method, without prejudice to your refiling the application in the future….

“The ESRB group submitted a proposed VPC method for approval on June 2, 2023. The method involves the use of “Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation” technology, which analyzes the geometry of a user’s face to confirm that the user is an adult….The Commission received 354 comments regarding the application. Commenters opposed to the application raised concerns about privacy protections, accuracy, and deepfakes. Those in support of the application wrote that the VPC method is similar to those approved previously and that it had sufficient privacy guardrails….

“The Commission is aware that Yoti submitted a facial age estimation model to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) in September 2023, and Yoti has stated that it anticipates that a report reflecting NIST’s evaluation of the model is forthcoming. The Commission expects that this report will materially assist the Commission, and the public, in better understanding age verification technologies and the ESRB group’s application.”

You can see the current NIST age estimation results on NIST’s “Face Analysis Technology Evaluation (FATE) Age Estimation & Verification” page, not only for Yoti, but for many other vendors including my former employers IDEMIA and Incode.

But the FTC rejection was in 2024. Things may be different now.

Grok.

Revisiting age verification and age estimation in 2026?

The FTC has scheduled an in-person and online age verification workshop on January 28.

  • The in-person event will be at the Constitution Center at 400 7th St SW in Washington DC.
  • Details regarding online attendance will be published on this page in the coming weeks.

“The Age Verification Workshop will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, including researchers, academics, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and government regulators, to discuss topics including:  why age verification matters, age verification and estimation tools, navigating the regulatory contours of age verification, how to deploy age verification more widely, and interplay between age verification technologies and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA Rule).”

Will the participants reconsider age estimation in light of recent test results?

Remember Hygiene?

When I first worked with (then) MorphoTrak’s MorphoWave in the mid-2010s, speed and convenience were the selling points.

A few years later, hygiene was all the rage for (now) IDEMIA and other companies.

As COVID recedes (for now), speed and convenience take center stage again.

Grok.

Reminder to marketing leaders: if you need Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis help, book a meeting at https://bredemarket.com/mark/

Reducing Biometric Marketing Internal Bias By Using Bredemarket

Identity/biometric marketing leaders continuously talk about how their companies have reduced bias in their products. But have they reduced bias in their own marketing to ensure it resonates with prospects?

I recently talked about the problem of internal bias:

“Marketers are driven to accentuate the positive about their companies. Perhaps the company has a charismatic founder who repeatedly emphasizes how ‘insanely great’ his company is and who talked about ‘bozos.’ (Yeah, there was a guy who did both of those.) 

“And since marketers are often mandated to create both external and internal sales enablement content, their view of their own company and their own product is colored.”

Let’s look at two examples of biometric marketing internal bias…and how to overcome it.

Google Gemini.

Internal bias at Company A

  • Company A does not participate in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE) for technical reasons. 
  • As a result, the company’s marketing machine constantly discredits NIST FRTE, and the company culture is permeated with a “NIST is stupid” mentality. 
  • All well and good…until it runs into that one prospect who asks, “Why are you scared to measure yourself against the competition? Does your algorithm suck that bad?”

Internal bias at Company B

  • Company B, on the other hand, participates in FRTE, FATE, FRIF (previously FpVTE), and every other NIST test imaginable. 
  • This company’s marketing machine declares its superiority as a top tier biometric vendor, supported by outside independent evidence. 
  • All well and good…until it runs into that one prospect who declares, “That’s just federal government test data. How will you perform in our benchmark using our real data and real computers?”

Internal bias at Bredemarket 

Well, I have my admittedly biased solution to prevent companies from tumbling into groupthink, drinking of Kool-Aid, and market irrelevance.

Contract with an outside biometric product marketing expert. (I just happen to know one…me.)

Google Gemini.

I haven’t spent 30 years immersed in your insular culture. I’ve heard all the marketing-speak from different companies, and I’ve written the marketing-speak for nearly two dozen of them. I can ensure that your content resonates with your external customers and prospects, not only with your employees.

All well and good…until…

Reducing internal bias at Bredemarket 

“But John, what about your own biases? IDEMIA, Motorola, Incode, and other employers paid you for 25 years! You probably have an established process that you use to prepare andouillette at home, based upon a recipe from 2019!”

Google Gemini.

I don’t…but point taken. So how do I minimize my own biases?

My breadth of experience lessens the biases from my past. Look at my market-speak from 1994 to 2023, in order:

  • We are Printrak, a nimble private company that will dominate AFIS with our client-server solution.
  • We are Printrak (stock symbol AFIS) a well-funded public company that will dominate AFIS, mugshot, computer aided dispatch, and microfiche.
  • We are Motorolans, and our multi-tier Digital Justice Solution has a superior architecture to that of Sagem Morpho and others.
  • We are MorphoTrak, bringing together the best technologies from MetaMorpho and Printrak BIS, plus superior French technology for secure credentials and road safety…unencumbered by the baggage that weighs down MorphoTrust.
  • We are IDEMIA North America, bringing together the best technologies from MorphoTrust and MorphoTrak for ABIS, driver’s licenses, and enrollment, coupled with the resources from the rest of IDEMIA, a combined unbreakable force.
  • We are Incode, not weighed down with the baggage of the old dinosaurs, and certainly not a participant in the surveillance market.

Add all the different messaging of Bredemarket’s clients, plus my continuous improvement (hello MOTO) of my capabilities, and I will ensure that my content, proposals, and analysis does not trap you in a dead end.

Reducing internal bias at your company 

Are you ready to elevate your company with the outside perspective of a biometric product marketing expert?

Let’s talk (a free meeting). You explain, I ask questions, we agree on a plan, and then I act.

Schedule a meeting at https://bredemarket.com/mark/

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers

Today’s Acronyms are CMMI, ISACA, and NSS

I’m going to discuss the acronyms CMMI and NSS, which I’ve kinda sorta discussed before but never in combination. (And as an added bonus I’ll discuss one more acronym.)

Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI)

Back in February and in April I made passing references to CMMI, which stands for the Capability Maturity Model Integration. But I only mentioned it in passing because my experience is with the older Capability Maturity Model (CMM).

Imagen 4.

Who manages the CMMI?

Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

Back in March and in April I either explicitly referenced or implicitly quoted from ISACA, which is the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

Back in 2016 ISACA acquired the CMMI Institute, which managed CMMI. But the process suites originated earlier.

“CMMI was originally developed at the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center within Carnegie Mellon University.”

Imagen 4.

Thus ISACA governs all CMMI-related activity, including assessments and certifications.

Which brings us to…

National Security Systems (NSS) and National Security Solutions (NSS)

‘Cause you know sometimes acronyms have two meanings.

It makes me wonder. And if you’re wondering, this is NOT Imagen 4. By Dina Regine – https://www.flickr.com/photos/divadivadina/465006384/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8022602.

Although in this case the two are related.

When a foreign-owned company wants to do business with the sensitive parts of the U.S. federal government, they have to set up a set up an entity that is free from foreign ownership, control, or influence. This is FOCI, a bonus acronym for you today.

Imagen 4.

In the biometric world, there are two notable FOCI-mitigated subsidiaries of foreign companies:

Bringing all the acronyms together

Focusing on IDEMIA National Security Solutions, the company recently made a CMMI-related announcement:

“IDEMIA National Security Solutions (NSS), a subsidiary of IDEMIA, the leading provider of secure and trusted biometric-based solutions, is proud to announce that it has successfully earned re-certification at level 3 of ISACA’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®).”

Imagen 4.

You’ll recall that the CMMI levels go up to Level 5. So IDEMIA NSS is not at the maximum CMMI level, but Level 3 is impressive enough to issue a press release.

IDEMIA NSS’ extensive federal government work dictates that it maintain a number of certifications and conformances. CMMI gives the government agencies assurance that IDEMIA NSS provides its products according to specific quality and process improvement standards.

The Most Significant Acquisitions in Biometrics…in 2002 and 2004. (Hang on to your seats.)

(Imagen 4)

What a difference a few years makes.

Identix plus Visionics (plus Digital Biometrics)

Back in 2002, when I was an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) product manager at Motorola, another fingerprint company, Identix, made an announcement.

“Identix Inc. and Visionics Corp. announce a strategic merger of equals in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $600 million.”

The word “synergy” was tossed about, justifiably. You see, while Identix had a long history with fingerprints, Visionics had a long history with facial recognition. So the new combined company would offer both fingerprint and face biometrics, something new for the time. So new that Visionics’ chairman and CEO, Dr. Joseph Atick, made the following statement:

“I believe this merger of equals is one of the most significant events in the history of the biometrics industry to date.”

One little footnote: the acquisition brought fingerprint provider Identix and its chief competitor Digital Biometrics into the same company, since Visionics had acquired Digital Biometrics in 2001.

Viisage plus TDT

Let’s, um, face it: the combined company (known as Identix) was positioned well against Visionics’ chief competitor, a company called Viisage.

But Viisage had plans of its own. Just two years later, it announced its own acquisition:

“In February, it bought Trans Digital Technologies (TDT), which supplies the digital printing system for U.S. passports, for $50 million in cash and stock. Last year, the Arlington, Va.-based TDT landed a five-year, $65 million contract extension with the U.S. State Department for the passport system.”

Which prompted Bernard Bailey, Viisage’s president and CEO, to declare that the acquisition of TDT was:

“…the single most important transformational event in Viisages history.”

So who was the true visionary: Atick, or Bailey? Or maybe someone else we haven’t mentioned yet?

Identix and Viisage…and all the other companies

While Identix and Visionics had some pretty significant components, neither could claim to be a true identity leader. Both companies not only had to compete against the traditional AFIS providers including Sagem Morpho and Motorola, but also against other identity providers. Take Digimarc, which beefed itself up considerably by acquiring Polaroid’s driver’s license business in 2001.

So by 2004, my Motorola “Biometric Business Unit” was competing against a bunch of companies, including:

  • One of our traditional AFIS competitors, Sagem Morpho.
  • Identix, including Visionics and Digital Biometrics.
  • Viisage, including Trans Digital Technologies.
  • Digimarc’s driver’s license business.

You know how this ended

Imagen 4.

Several years later, after several mergers (including the one that combined Identix and Viisage to form L-1 Identity Solutions, driven by Robert LaPenta’s L-1 Investment Partners who invested in Viisage), all of these companies would become part of the French aerospace company Safran.

  • Sagem Morpho and Motorola’s Biometric Business Unit would be a Safran subsidiary called MorphoTrak (with some international pieces tossed over into a division that would subsequently be renamed Morpho).
  • The others (L-1 plus Digimarc’s driver’s license business, acquired in 2008) would be a Safran subsidiary called MorphoTrust.

Until Safran sold ALL of Morpho, including MorphoTrak and MorphoTrust, to the company that eventually became IDEMIA.