Security is one of the essential aspects of everyday life. It is given the utmost importance in every industrial or personal space. Keeping the data safe is the prime concern of industrialists. Likewise, keeping the home safe is the prime concern of every common man. A solution to these concerns is Biometric Security Solutions. One of the best ways to ensure security is using Biometrics solutions.
As the advent of security solutions is booming, different solutions related to security are also evolving. Innovative solutions like facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and digital mobile access card are heavily taking over the market when it comes to Biometric Security Space. One company that provides all these innovative biometric solutions is Suprema.
Suprema is one of the world’s top access control providers, including time and attendance management, and biometric security solutions. It offers an extensive portfolio of security devices, including biometric access control systems such as face and fingerprint recognition, mobile authentication systems, web-based access control, and HR management. With a worldwide sales network spanning over 140 countries, Suprema ranks among the top 50 security manufacturers and has the number one market share in biometric access control in the EMEA region.
A Thoughtful Leader
Shreyans Vasa is the Country Manager at Suprema India. He has extensive experience with a wide range of access control and security technology, including biometric devices, CCTV surveillance, fire alarm detection and suppression, building management systems, and intrusion security.
He also has experience related to technology such as time/attendance systems, telecom, and other industrial solutions. He joined the Suprema India team in 2020, following a decade-long career in team management. Shreyans has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Instrumentation and Control Engineering and a Mini MBA in Business Administration, Management, and Operations.
Aspiring Ventures
In the early 2000s, fingerprint recognition technology was the leading biometric solution. This technology requires complex algorithms for image processing, as well as custom hardware and software. Suprema had the competitiveness of the researchers fit for the task, so the company developed its fingerprint recognition algorithm. Based on this algorithm, Suprema took first place in the Asia of 2002 Fingerprint Verification Competition, and in 2004, it was ranked first in the world.
Secure Services
It offers a wide range of access terminals that accept every authentication option available, including RFID, PIN numbers, biometric options including facial and fingerprint recognition, and contactless mobile access using Bluetooth or QR codes.
Suprema’s BioStar 2 web-based security platform lets access control administrators manage every terminal and user, along with time and attendance, visitors, and more. In large and highly secured spaces, this is all backed by its CoreStation intelligent door controller, which is capable of linking multiple biometric terminals across a large area and efficiently servicing a vast number of people.
Challenges – A part of Victory
Suprema’s first biometric access control terminal was BioStation, which was launched in 2006. There were many global innovations in the mobile phone industry during this time, including improvements in LCD screens, multimedia, WiFi communication, and more. Suprema further developed upon these new technologies and adapted them into BioStation, which revolutionized the access control industry with its color LCD display, fingerprint recognition, and more technologies, including design itself. It was a big hit!
Fast-forward to 2021, and its highest-rated technology is Suprema’s facial recognition and mobile access solutions. Facial recognition has had a reputation for having a ‘one-race bias,’ meaning that any facial recognition system would typically only be able to recognize people of the same ethnicity as its developer since that is what the AI is trained to ‘see’.
Suprema worked tirelessly to overcome this limitation. Now it is proud to say that its industry leading FaceStation F2 biometric terminal can recognize people of any ethnicity in any lighting conditions. This is a factor that has helped it to lead the biometric security solutions space in the global market.
Together with face recognition, it is also looking at a big move in the mobile access area. Suprema has spun off the MOCA inc. as affiliate in 2019 to grow mobile access business, and MOCA has successfully made a quantum leap in the mobile access area. Suprema is always trying to give more valuable solutions and services to customers and facing challenges when trying to make this kind of effort work in the market.
Sustaining the Pandemic
Since many people no longer want to touch public access points such as door handles, RFID cards, etc., one knock on effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a rising interest in contactless access control. This has resulted in a plethora of new vendors entering the space to fill the demand. However, Suprema has been innovating and pioneering contactless access control for over ten years, specifically facial recognition.
In this time, it has seen the market grow steadily thanks to advancements in technology, which increase accuracy and user comfort. While the core technology itself is nothing new, Suprema believes that the pandemic has affected the public in a way that acceptance of facial recognition and other contactless access control has become much more common now.
For some examples of Suprema’s contactless devices, its FaceStation F2 facial recognition access control terminal is extremely fast — it can authenticate and grant access as people walk by without requiring each individual to stop and look at the camera. Suprema recently released X-Station 2 and Airfob Patch, both very versatile mobile access devices that use Bluetooth and NFC technology to read digital access cards stored on a smartphone.
This allows admins to send access cards in advance via email, and visitors can walk straight in — zero face-to-face contact required. Airfob Patch is also particularly easy to install — it can be attached to an existing RFID reader via an adhesive strip and requires no electrical plug or batteries. These are some of Suprema’s contactless devices that have been selling very well during this pandemic period.
There have also been significant technological advancements during the past couple of years. There are a lot of opportunities to be found in the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence and deep learning, both areas where Suprema has a core competence. Suprema believes it will become increasingly important in the future for systems to seamlessly support this kind of flexibility.
Crisp Details
In a world that is increasingly emphasizing both personal and corporate security, biometrics are definitely here to stay. However, if used incorrectly, such data can be used for ill purposes. New entrepreneurs need to consider how best to respect and secure the privacy and rights of those who — consensually or unwittingly — give up their biometric identifying information.
Robust Future
Suprema ranks first in global market share in the field of biometric readers. It believes that visual recognition technology will soon spill over into the security industry, with surveillance cameras featuring built-in AI capable of efficiently alerting people when it identifies smoke, intrusions, weapons, and other suspicious or dangerous activities. Essentially, Suprema envisions a future where access control and security are merged as one, with everything being controlled by cameras and AI.
This means that Suprema will have to change its business model to take advantage of this market opportunity. Over the past 20 years, it has focused on access control and developed everything in-house. But now, it is looking to make partnerships that can help it build synergies.
Suprema aims to develop its visual recognition algorithms to recognize faces and, for example, weapons, suspicious body movements, or smoke. As this requires crossing into a technology sector, it does not yet have much experience. The right partnerships will make all the difference.
Industry Insights
It is a huge market. According to a recent report by Emergen Research, the Biometrics-as-a-service global market size is predicted to surpass USD 6.4 billion by 2028. This encompasses not only building security but also mobile devices, etc. Nowadays, biometric authenticated secure mobile payments have become very popular, showing how much importance people place on personal security. Still, that’s just the consumers and the individuals. While looking at larger organizations such as corporations, industrial complexes, or government buildings, security is paramount, and biometrics is king.
The global pandemic has also undoubtedly had an impact on the industry. However, a report by Omdia revealed that revenues from biometric reader sales declined by 6.9% from 2019 to 2020, owing to the impact of COVID-19. These numbers include fingerprint readers. This should not be surprised when the rising interest in contactless access control is considered. However, sales of contactless facial recognition readers are still going strong — a fact Suprema can attest to.
Safety being the Priority
Biometric authentication access terminals, of course, strengthen security systems for the companies that install them. But they also offer a range of benefits for the people that pass through these access points, including staff, management, customers, and visitors.
Facial recognition, for example, has become the gold standard for contactless identity verification, which has become very important during the pandemic. Suprema’s FaceStation F2 can authenticate users super quickly as they walk past — when installed at a checkpoint with touchless turnstiles, visitors can pass through very quickly with zero physical contact required.
On the other hand, you have fingerprint recognition, which offers the high level of security that biometric authentication has to offer, even while people are wearing masks or are otherwise covering their faces.
And for those who require very high levels of security, it is possible to store biometric information on physical RFID cards or digital mobile access cards. Meaning, you could set up an access point to require all three types of identity verification: fingerprint, facial recognition, and a swipe of an RFID or mobile access card.
