HandReaders Provide Faster Employee Throughput than Other Biometrics for Leading Web Hosting Service, Digex

It is important to get employees quickly in and out...finger scans (are) impractical for large populations."

CAMPBELL, CALIF. (PRWEB) May 13, 2003 -- IR Recognition Systems, the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rands (IR) Security & Safety Groups Electronic Access Control Division (EACD), today announced that Digex, a leading fully managed web and applications hosting service, uses the companys HandReaders to access offices and rooms at their locations in California, England and company headquarters in Laurel, Md. HandReaders positively authenticate users by the shape and size of their hands, not their keys, cards or codes.

Hand geometry is the best biometric solution for our needs," explains Digex Director of Security James Callahan, a 22-year veteran of the security industry and retired federal counter-intelligence agent. As a managed hosting company, it is important that our clients know that their information is secure both logically and physically. We need to provide a high level of assurance that people are who they claim to be. We must prevent unauthorized access to hardware and critical information."

We also need flexible, fast authentication with a biometric that handles a large population without holdups," Callahan adds. It is important to get employees quickly in and out. According to my research, approximately four percent of the population cant use fingerprint technology because of dry skin. This makes finger scans impractical for large populations. If you have 1,000 people to push through a day, you cant afford to create a work-around for the 40 who cant get through. Iris is accurate but too slow. We need to get our people through in a reasonable amount of time."

According to Callahan, security at Digex is compartmentalized. They use a single enroll, single location, TCP/IP protocol. IR Recognition Systems HandNet software integrates the HandReaders with other access control systems.

At Digex, HandReaders are used at the front doors and stationed in critical portions of the data centers, often layered two and three deep, allowing some authorized people into one room but not adjoining second and third rooms.

The HandReaders also give us a 'Fort Knox attitude," explains Callahan. This attitude is not only conveyed to clients but to employees as well. This mind-set puts our employees more on guard and generates a heightened state of alert."

Oracle Surveillance Systems, Ltd. (OSS of Baltimore, Md.), which serves 25 cities nationwide, implemented the biometric system at Digex. According to Inc. magazine, the video/access control system integrator is one of the nations fastest growing private businesses.

About IR Recognition Systems

With over 70,000 hand geometry units throughout the world reading millions of hands each day, IR Recognition Systems, founded in 1986, is the pioneer of hand recognition technology used in access control, time and attendance and identification applications. The company is the world sales leader of biometric verification devices and serves an international clientele from its headquarters in Campbell, Calif. The hand geometry website is www.handreader.com. Phone is 408-341-4100. Recognition Systems is the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand Corporations Security & Safety Groups Electronic Access Control Division. The Ingersoll-Rand website is www.irco.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For a downloadable, high-resolution photograph of the HandReader at Digex, go to www.brighamscully.com and click Photographs/IR Recognition Systems.

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For more information...

Bill Spence                

IR RECOGNITION SYSTEMS

408-341-4100

bill_spence@irco.com    

Tom Brigham            

BRIGHAM SCULLY        

818-716-9021            

tbrigham@brighamscully.com