News

EDS chairman touts biometrics at Comdex

February 24, 2002

LAS VEGAS - Calling it the future of airport security, Dick Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of technology solutions provider EDS (NYSE:EDS) endorsed biometric technology as a cutting edge application during his keynote speech at the Comdex Fall 2001 convention on Nov. 13.

Brown said it was up to technology companies to make Americans feel more secure in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Trust was the main casualty of the events of the last two months. That's where we all come in," Brown said during his speech. "We are the protectors of today's currency: knowledge and information. We bolster trust by protecting those assets."

Brown showcased his company's airport security kiosk, which employs hand and facial identification technology. The kiosk is in use at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, to identify frequent flyers entering and leaving the country.

"This is really the future of airport security," Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Now you can be sure the people on the plane on either side of you are who they say they are."

The Chronicle reported that about 25 Comdex exhibitors were showcasing biometric technology. The technology on display ranged from iris scans to fingerprint, facial and hand recognitions devices.

But Grant Evans, executive vice president of fingerprint identification developer Identix Inc., admitted to the Chroniclethat a premier biometric application does not yet exist.

"After the events of Sept. 11, everyone's looking for the magic solution and it doesn't exist," Evans said. "There's no one product that will win this war. This is an infrastructure solution that will just show up as part of everyday life."