UPEK Expands Biometric Market with Launch of New TouchChip® Fingerprint Solutions

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPEK®, Inc., the leader in enterprise and consumer biometric fingerprint solutions, announced today at the Biometrics Consortium Conference, that it has launched a new generation of its highly acclaimed TouchChip® silicon fingerprint sensors, providing developers of biometric products with sensors that offer additional compatibility with government and industry standards, greater ruggedness, stronger security, and easier integration. The new TouchChip product family includes the only FIPS 201 certified silicon fingerprint sensor and leverages technology from UPEK’s widely deployed TouchStrip® swipe fingerprint sensors to address a broader range of markets, from large scale government and international ID programs to enterprise logical and physical access applications.

With this new generation of TouchChip fingerprint solutions, UPEK now offers:

• UPEK’s SteelCoat™ sensor coating technology: Already in production on UPEK’s high-volume TouchStrip swipe sensors, SteelCoat offers significantly improved durability for applications such as mobile ID devices, physical access control devices, and point-of-sale terminals.
• UPEK’s Digital ID Hardware Engine™ companion processor (TCD50) support: The widely deployed TCD50 has been updated to support UPEK’s full line of TouchChip sensors, providing on-board minutia template extraction, matching and storage across UPEK’s entire line of fingerprint sensors. The TCD50 can match ANSI-378 or ISO 19794-2 industry standard minutia templates via a template convertor in order to interoperate with many of today’s government ID applications.
• Drop-in module for FIPS 201 compliant single finger capture devices: The TCEFC1 USB fingerprint module combines the TouchChip TCS1 fingerprint sensor, the only silicon fingerprint sensor that is FIPS 201 certified for HSPD 12 applications, with the TCD50 for match-on-device functionality in an easy-to-integrate module.

UPEK is the only fingerprint biometrics company that offers a complete lineup of solutions ranging from low-cost swipe sensors for mobile and PC applications to government-certified touch sensors. With this release of UPEK’s recent software platform, customers have an application programming interface that provides software compatibility across UPEK’s entire range of products. UPEK customers can now easily address multiple market segments, offering the right solution for each application, while minimizing software development and product support requirements.

"UPEK is leading the charge in developing the next generation of high quality silicon based fingerprint sensor technology,” said Ken Nosker, President, Fulcrum Biometrics LLC. “Fulcrum Biometrics, as a leading integrator and supplier of high quality fingerprint solutions, relies on UPEK to provide the best fingerprint solutions for our clients regardless of whether the project requires small embedded swipe sensors or larger FBI PIV certified touch sensors."

“UPEK’s silicon-based TouchChip fingerprint sensors dramatically lower the size, cost and power of fingerprint sensors versus optical-based fingerprint solutions,” said Mike Chaudoin, UPEK’s director of biometrics marketing and business development. ”These enhancements to UPEK’s proven TouchChip fingerprint solutions position UPEK for continued growth in the expanding market for fingerprint biometric solutions including large-scale government identity management applications, mobile ID applications, enterprise security including physical and logical access and a wide variety of international biometrics initiatives.”

UPEK will be demonstrating its new TouchChip solutions at the Biometrics Consortium Conference in Booth 121 at the Tampa Convention Center, September 22-24, 2009.

About UPEK

UPEK, Inc. is the global leader in enterprise and consumer biometric fingerprint solutions. UPEK authentication hardware and software are integrated into laptops from the world's top five largest PC makers, as well as USB flash drives, external hard disk drives, and mobile phones from leading manufacturers. UPEK's ecosystem of over 100 hardware and software partners enables strong authentication solutions for market verticals including healthcare, banking, education, and government. UPEK offers the only silicon-based fingerprint sensor that is FIPS 201 certified for authentication of millions of US government employees and contractors. UPEK also provides consumer packaged goods including the CES award-winning Eikon Digital Privacy Manager, the only fingerprint reader on the market that supports PCs and Macs. UPEK products make your digital world safe and personal. For more info, visit www.upek.com.

UPEK, the UPEK logo, TouchChip, TouchStrip, SteelCoat, and Digital ID Hardware Engine are registered trademarks or trademarks of UPEK, Inc. in the United States and other countries.