Sagem Securite has launched its SmartGate automated border control system using facial recognition at the Auckland International Airport in New Zealand, the first step in a new long-term partnership with the New Zealand Customs Service for the implementation of improved border control solutions. SmartGate is accessible to New Zealand and Australian ePassport holders and identifies travelers in real time using facial recognition from the photo stored in the chi of the ePassport. SmartGate is already deployed in most international Australian airports and will be rolled out in both New Zealand’s Christchurch and Wellington International airports by mid-2010. The SmartGate system requires an ePassport holder to present his passport at a kiosk, which pulls biographic information and the photo. Then the traveler goes to the gate where a live photo is taken and compared with the photo pulled from the ePassport at the kiosk.