Bioscrypt Inc., a provider of identity verification technology, today announced that Boots Group PLC, one of the largest health and beauty companies in the United Kingdom, has selected Bioscrypt's V-Flex finger scan reader to uniquely identify operators as they perform their tasks.
An irrefutable audit trail detailing which individual performed which job at what time is a demand being placed on many industries including pharmaceutical manufacturing. Using biometrics for operator authentication provides a high degree of security with a minimum load borne by the operators. As the significant simplification of individual identity verification through biometrics is increasingly recognized, adoption of the technology will escalate.
"Using biometrics as an alternative to cards, bar codes or passwords has the additional benefit of very rapid logon and user ID in our process plant where the operator is frequently asked to authenticate their identity on each step of a complex operation. Typing their password repetitively is very time consuming," said Rob Mallett, BCM Healthcare Engineering Projects Manager. "Integration with our Active Directory on site has enabled us to inherit all our group security policies from our existing networked systems, this is very advantageous in a highly regulated industry. Our active directory is very large, many thousands of users, and the solution developed allows verification of the fingerprint in 2 seconds or less!"
Bioscrypt's finger scan technology has been combined with Wonderware process control software supplied by Pantek to form an integrated solution for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) areas that enables Boots to document the full production history of each product. The main challenge in this application was the integration of the fingerprint reader onto terminals that were running Intouch sessions. This was achieved by enabling connectivity via the serial connection on the thin client resulting in a solution that can now easily be expanded.
"By using biometrics to secure areas and monitor activity true non-repudiation is achieved. We are pleased that Boots chose our technology as a component of their solution," said Robert Williams, President and CEO, Bioscrypt. "Identity verification through biometrics is applicable across industries and for many purposes. Whether for physical access control, time and attendance or network access it is critical to have the technology in place to maximize efficiency and security."
