industry

forecast, industry, security

US Security Industry Analyst Report

Security Products to 2016: US demand to rise 7.3% annually through 2016 (Press Release – SBWire)

This study analyzes the US security products industry. It presents historical demand data for the years 2001, 2006 and 2011, and forecasts for 2016 and 2021 by product (e.g., access controls, alarms, closed-circuit television, contraband detection, electronic article surveillance, automotive) and market (e.g., government and institutional, trade and distribution, industrial, air transport, financial institutions). The study also considers market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates company market share and profiles industry players.

government, ID, ID assurance, ID management, industry, NIST, standards

National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) Background and Progress Report

ID management: A matter of trust (Federal Computer Week)

In April 2011, the Obama administration launched a plan called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) to encourage the private sector to develop, with federal support and input, online ID and authentication systems that people could use and government agencies, other organizations and commercial players could accept without each needing to create their own vetting systems.
…
At this point, NSTIC supporters are making headway, though perhaps not in a headline-grabbing way. Earlier this month, the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group, a federally supported committee led by the private sector that will guide creation of NSTIC-style systems, met for the first time in Chicago to hash out plans for addressing privacy, standards, usability, contracts and other key components.

National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) is being run by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to encourage the development and adoption of standards for ID management. The recent Apple-Amazon hack points to why this is important.

In an environment where everyone has to create their own ID management system, it is inevitable that organizations will create exploitable gaps in the way they emphasize the importance of information. In this case, Amazon (like many other companies, just check your restaurant receipt) treated the last four numbers of a credit card as non-secure information, while Apple used the same information for logical access control.

Initiatives like NSTIC hope to facilitate companies and government agencies to work through ways to make this kind of thing less likely.

industry

Iris Company Gets Huge Cash Infusion

AOptix Closes $42 Million Series E Funding (Press Release) 

AOptix announced that it has closed a $42 million Series E round of funding. This brings the total investment in the company to date to $123 million. All of the company’s existing investors — Clearstone Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Northgate Capital and W Capital Partners — participated in the round and were joined by a new investor, True Ventures. The proceeds will be used to support product development, sales and marketing as the company prepares to launch groundbreaking new products.

biometrics, Gartner, industry, technology

Gartner Hype Cycle 2012

Gartner’s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Identifies “Tipping Point” Technologies That Will Unlock Long-Awaited Technology Scenarios (Gartner)

Biometrics feature prominently is several of the technology groups Grtner presents. Whether you’re an old hand or hearing of the Hype Cycle for the first time, you’ll want to click through and check it out.

Source: Gartner

The Peak of Inflated Expectations was frustrating. The Trough of Disillusionment was a grind. Now is the fun part.

forecast, industry

Global Biometrics Market Forecast: $10 B in 2014

Global Biometrics Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2017 (Report Linker Press Release) 


The limitations and inconvenience involved in using alternative identification methods i.e. photographs, passwords and PIN codes have driven the growth of biometric technologiesin last few years. Again, increasing terrorist attacks, plane hijackings and crime rates have underlined the need for superior security measures around the world. On the other side, some border control projects like e-passport, VIS, EURODAC, etc. and some national identity scheme like Aadhar are acting as a major driver for the biometrics industry. As more and more people and organizations depend on computers to store their important documents, there is an increasing need for security. Biometrics has been adopted for such logical access control applications as the most secure technology till date.

According to”Global Biometric Systems Market Forecast &Opportunities, 2017″, global biometrics market revenues are anticipated to reach USD 10.02 Billion by 2014. Increasing security requirements for public security i.e. border control, national identity etc., internet & network access and financial transactions are acting as growth driver for the industry. The market has been lead by fingerprint technology from the last few decades. However, the vein recognition technology is gaining acceptance globally which is expected to grow rapidly in years to come. Regionally, North America & Europe together contributed 62.46% of the total revenues of global biometrics market in 2011. The global biometrics market has a huge potential due to increasing public acceptance.

application, Cukic, industry, middleware, multimodal, WVU

WVU’s own Bojan Cukic holds forth on the state of biometric applications.

Tipping Point Unclear For Mass Market Adoption Of Biometrics

Cukic said that most biometric devices currently available are standalone solutions that do not have access to the Internet. Were this to change, Cukic believes the use of biometrics could receive a significant shot in the arm. “I would say that we have good components, but the question remains, who is going to be the developer responsible for offering these systems in which biometrics address some of the authorization and authentication problems that we face today?” he added.

Middleware and the application development it enables will be critical to moving these technologies out of the lab and niche government installations and into positive ROI applications for profit-making entities.
Or (more succinctly…

Very good article on the state of the industry. Middleware is the glue that pulls this together. #Biometrics @securlinx ow.ly/ccu1a
— Barry Hodge (@HodgeBarry) July 12, 2012

Event, industry, TechConnect, West Virginia

Biometrics Event

Next Steps in Identity Technologies: Biometrics and Beyond

TechConnect West Virginia, in conjunction with Computer Sciences Corporation and IMTAS, will host a forum to discuss the status of the biometrics industry in West Virginia.

The forum will be held Wednesday, June 20 from 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center, in Fairmont, W.Va.

The event will bring together biometric companies, Federal agencies and university stakeholders to discuss the future of identity and biometrics technologies and their impact on the State’s economy. Government agency officials will review the status of identity management initiatives in the public sector, particularly regarding the major expansion underway at the FBI Center in Harrison County. Other speakers will address the need for more private-sector development capitalizing on the talent/brainpower in the region.

Top officials with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division and the Department of Defense Biometric Identity Management Agency will headline this upcoming Wednesday’s Biometric Forum in Fairmont, entitled, “Next Steps in Identity Technologies: Biometrics and Beyond”.

Speakers include:

  • David Cuthbertson, Assistant Director, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division 
  • Col. Douglas Flohr, Deputy Director for Operations, Biometrics Identity Management Agency 
  • Dr. Bojan Cukic, Director of Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR)
  • Dr. Terry W. Fenger, Director of the Marshall University Forensic Science Center 
  • Dr. Marios Savvides, Director of the CyLab Biometrics Center

I’ll be there.

UPDATE:
Fore more on the proceedings, see this post or check out the Twitter hashtag #TechConnectWVa.

industry, voice

Voice Recognition Software Industry Report

Voice Recognition Industry Market Research Report (Press Release via CEN)

Revenue for the Voice Recognition Software Developers industry is expected to increase an average of 2.3% annually to $1.1 billion over the five years to 2012. In 2012 alone, industry revenue is expected to grow 5.0% due to a 7.9% increase in private investment in computers and software. However, the industry has not experienced growth across the board.