Real world Biometric Access Control

Blog by Andy | Posted on Friday December 5 2014

Despite the fact that it has existed for years, facial recognition technology is still seen by most people as the stuff of the security services or government departments, using their scanners to locate and tag people on CCTV, or maybe to limit access to a vault in the Pentagon that contains a single computer. You know the one I mean.

Not so in the real world. Not any more. The technology exists and is being used for access control by many companies and organisations that need an added level of security while retaining convenience for their staff.

The experts here at Idency recently consulted with an organisation in the UK Healthcare sector looking for just such a secure, convenient solution for their server room. Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group (Swindon CCG for short) is responsible for buying health services for the NHS patients of the Swindon area, so any data they hold must be strictly controlled. They needed a solution to satisfy the access control requirements of a server room with high security and minimal contact as key criteria.

Idency spoke to Dr Peter Crouch from Swindon CCG and recommended the ZKTeco MultiBio 700 Access Control system. It’s an unobtrusive machine that can be wall-mounted and integrated with existing electronic door locks (which Swindon CCG had in place), and the facial recognition is swift and accurate. As its name suggests, it features multi-factor authentication – this gives the option for added layers of security, as the facial recognition can be combined with any of the fingerprint, RFID card and PIN/Password options available for a security solution totally at home in any Hollywood depiction of Langley, Virginia.

Facial recognition – even in the dark

It even works in low-light situations due to the clever use of infra-red lighting of the user’s facial features, meaning that even if you can’t see your own visage, the MultiBio will sense it clearly and provide the same level of authentication.

Dr Crouch was very happy with the solution at Swindon CCG:

‘The identification is reliable and fast. Enrolment is quick and straightforward, The unit is unobtrusive, responsive, reliable and easy to use. Facial recognition occurs in approximately 1 second.’ 

For more details, check out the Idency PDF Case Study or the ZKTeco MultiBio 700 Access Control system product detail.