Keyware Technologies and Proton World International SA have developed a smart card that can verify its owner through fingerprint verification or iris recognition.
The smart card, called e-purse, is being demonstrated at the Smart Card 2000 trade show in London this week, the companies say.
The security technology, on which the smart cards are based, known as biometrics, has been developed by Keyware Technologies as a way to combat fraud and other security issues, the companies say. Other examples of biometric technology that Keyware also develops include voice and face verification, as well as hand geometry.
Keyware has licensed its biometric technology under the name Layered Biometric Verification.
The biometric technology has been combined with Keyware's smart card technology to launch the Proton common electronic purse specification-based e-purse, the companies say.
The biometrics can be used in conjunction with personal identification numbers and passwords, and cannot be duplicated by impostors, the companies say.
The cardholder's biography is stored within the smart card chip, which supplies the highest level of security for home banking and e-commerce, the companies say.
American Express, ERG Ltd., Interpay and Visa International created Proton World to develop products for the smart card and e-purse open standards.
Proton World and Keyware did not give a release date for an introduction of the smart card onto the mass market, nor did they say how much such smart cards would cost consumers.
Keyware Technologies, with dual headquarters, can be contacted in Woburn, Mass., at +1-781-933-1311, and in Zaventem, Belgium, at 32-2-721-4574, or at www.keyware.com/. Proton World, in Brussels, can be contacted at 32-2-724-5253, or at www.protonworld.com/.
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