Citi Testing Eye-Based ID System, Signs for License

Citicorp is close to determining whether the eyes have it.

The bank's development center in Los Angeles expects to finish testing IrisIdent, a system that scans eyes to verify customer identity, in the next few weeks.

The bank also has agreed to pay $3 million to Sensar Inc., the Moorestown, N.J.-based unit of Sarnoff Corp. that makes IrisIdent.

This money covers licensing fees and also gives Citicorp the right to purchase equity in Sensar.

The project, which involves 500 testers, should be watched closely. Citicorp is considered a technological innovator, and its verdict could have a ripple effect on the acceptance of other biometric technologies, such as those that analyze fingerprints or human voices.

"We think the basic science underlying this technology has a lot of potential," said Jim Zeanah, chief technology officer for the Citicorp Development Center. "We now have an engineering prototype" and will be testing a preproduction model.

In the short term, the most likely application for IrisIdent lies in automated teller machines.

As a consumer approaches an ATM, an IrisIdent unit locates the person's eye from three feet away and captures an image of it.

The system measures certain characteristics of the iris and compares them to a master file.

When a match is found, the user is granted access.

During the test, Citicorp will record the effectiveness of the product in real-life circumstances involving people with contact lenses and glasses.

This is part of an attempt to see if the technology is ready for a mass rollout.

Citicorp is not the only company interested in Sensar's technology. Oki Electric Industry of Japan has bought the exclusive rights to distribute IrisIdent in Japan and non-exclusive rights to distribute it in ten other Pacific Rim countries.

In addition, a major U.S. ATM vendor is expected to sign a contract for IrisIdent in the next 60 days, according to Kevin McQuade, vice president of strategic business development for Sensar.

Reflecting the outside interest, Sensar has increased its staff in recent months from six to 50.

Industry experts who have seen the technology said it works-often better than other biometric identification techniques, said Liam Carmody, president of Carmody & Bloom, a consulting company based in Ridgewood, N.J.

"The iris technology is more effective, applicable, and easier to use," he said.

Barry Schreiber, professor of criminal justice at St. Cloud University in Minnesota, agrees. "There are several biometric techniques and some real promising methods. We've done fingerprinting and retinal scanning, but iris ID is more attractive," he said.

One of the reasons is-it's unintrusive. From the user's perspective the system is passive, as compared to a fingerprinting method that requires a finger to be placed on a pad.

However, Mr. Schreiber cautioned, "It's going to be tricky to get the cost of the units low." The low cost of the current system of cards and personal identification numbers and the lack of catastrophic fraud may provide little incentive to invest in new authentication technology for some time.

"There will need to be a leap of significant expense to introduce another method, and we have to ask ourselves if we need this extra security," Mr. Schreiber said.

"The idea of a reliable biometric ID device hasn't made it down to the ATM level of sophistication yet."

Iris scanning could be adapted to other remote services, such as home banking. But Mr. Schreiber said the technology might need a lot of work before false rejection rates fall to an acceptable level.

"I think if you project 10 years, we as consumers will use several (types) of biometrics," said Benjamin Miller, a Bethesda, Md.-based consultant and chairman of the Cardtech/Securetech conference.

"Financial institutions will support more than one," he added.

"At that point, when the smart card structure is in place, they'll pay more attention to biometrics to protect consumers who will have more private information and multiple accounts on one relationship card."

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