Zwipe Integrates With HID Global, Makes Biometric Upgrade Accessible.

Today Zwipe, a biometric technology company specializing in fingerprint scanning smart cards, announced that its Zwipe Access biometric cards can be integrated with HID Global’s iCLASS and 125kHz ProxCard systems. In short, the integration  allows users of said HID Global security systems have easier access to biometric physical access control factors.

In the world of biometric physical access control there is a strong movement toward addressing adoption barriers. The cost and effort involved in buying installing and maintaining a biometric security system is intimidating to companies that would otherwise benefit from the protection offered by strong authentication. In the long term a biometric security system is both more secure and a great boon to systems administrators, since fingerprints don’t need to be reset on a regular basis, can’t be forgotten and are (nearly) impossible to lose.

Zwipe’s physical access solution addresses the above obstacles in a novel way that’s proven to be rather disruptive in the marketplace. The Zwipe Access card contains all of the back-end biometrics so that existing card-based security systems don’t need to be overhauled when time comes for an upgrade. A user authenticates by scanning her fingerprint with the on-card sensor, is positively identified, and the device then transmits a positive signal as if it were any other authorized card. If the fingerprint fails the match, the card remains benign, unable to open anything.

Now that the cards can integrate with HID Global’s iCLASS and 125kHz ProxCard based systems, that equates to a large number of companies around the world that now have easy access to a biometric security upgrade.

“As the largest smart and proximity card provider in the world, HID Global has thousands of users who would like to upgrade to biometric authorization, but may not have the budget or the resources to invest in biometric readers,” says Robert Fee, Zwipe’s director of sales for the Americas. “The Zwipe biometric card provides an easy, affordable option for security professionals to extend the use of their present card systems by adding biometrics for multi-factor, card-based authentication.”

Zwipe’s biometric card technology has applications outside of physical access control too. One of the biggest news stories of 2014 was the company’s partnership with MasterCard that is expected to result in a biometric credit card this year.