SRI International in late August separated its former identity solutions brand and launched an independent company called Princeton Identity, Inc. that is being funded primarily by Samsung Ventures, allowing the company to hone its product development focus.
Princeton Identity says it will continue to build on SRI’s legacy of biometric technologies for government and commercial applications, and for physical identity access management applications.
“With outside investment we can really focus very keenly on the product development and get some of the next-generation of our products completed faster and more deliberately,” Mark Clifton, Princeton Identity’s CEO, tells HSR in a telephone interview. “When we were under the SRI umbrella there were different constraints and we didn’t have the level of investment that we do now.”
Clifton says the focus of Princeton Identity’s technology development will be on access control and access management.
Under SRI the company developed an iris-on-the-move technology that enables biometric matching of a person’s iris and face from standoff ranges against a database while that person is passing through a checkpoint or similar infrastructure. The company’s technology is being used by the Department of Homeland Security in a border security processing pilot project and has been used by the United States military.
Clifton, who headed up SRI’s identity business before separating Princeton Identity into a standalone company, says the Army is evaluating the company’s face and iris recognition technology for entry control. For the border security application at a pedestrian checkpoint, Clifton says that DHS “loves the speed we provide” for the processing of workers going back and forth across the border.
“Iris recognition will enable the next generation of smart devices and IoT to create more secure access control than what is typically available today,” says Clifton. “The days of remembering and entering passwords will be a thing of the past. Launching as a separate venture enables us to place our full focus on becoming a leader in identify management and access control across a number of verticals, including security and mobile access control.”
Princeton Identity also incorporates fingerprint technology into some of its solutions based on customer requirements.
SRI says that it has been collaborating with Samsung Ventures to launch Princeton Identity for a while. Samsung Ventures is the venture capital arm of Korea’s electronics giant Samsung Electronics.
Clifton says that Princeton Identity has more than 30 employees. SRI has stock in the new company and has board membership.
SRI soon will begin deploying its iris and face recognition technology as part of an eGate at Dubai International Airport for people entering the country. Clifton says that Dubai has been using iris recognition technology but that Princeton Identity’s will be easier to use.
Distance and ease of use are two important selling points for Princeton Identity’s iris recognition technology, Clifton says. At an airport the validation of an individual’s iris can be done at the same time he or she is walking through the metal detector, he says.
Dubai-based Emaratech is the integrator for the security project at Dubai International.
Princeton Identity’s technology is also in trials at two other large international airports seeking high-throughput, high security applications, Clifton says.
Princeton Identity’s iris recognition technology is being used in Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7 for secure authentication. Clifton says as the technology becomes more socialized its acceptance will grow just as it has with fingerprint technology and the costs will also come down.
SRI is a non-profit technology development company that forms ventures with its technology using capital from the venture community. SRI retains an ownership stake in the ventures after separation.