Smart card developer On Track Innovations, Ltd., (OTI) (Nasdaq: OTIV; Prime Standard [Frankfurt]: OT5) announced today that it has completed another stage in the delivery of the infrastructure toward the installation of the Basel Project, a cross-border contactless access control system.
The first border center at the Erez checkpoint between Gaza Strip and Israel, is scheduled to open later this year. When fully operational, the system will monitor the entrance and exit of approximately 120,000 daily workers while assuring a completely secure, exceptionally fast border crossing. The project, awarded by the Israel Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Israeli National Police, is the first border control system in the world to use both hand and facial biometrics with contactless chip technology as the primary methods of identification.
The Basel solution is based in part on OTI's SmartID technology, which was tested and approved by the Israeli MoD. It incorporates the highest levels of security encryption and is available in multiple shapes and sizes including stickers that can be used to upgrade existing travel documents like visas and passports. Readers are programmed with sufficient flash memory to allow for multiple software upgrades. Applications for the technology can be expanded to include secure access control, a national identification card programs, and SmartID enabled passport filled with personal identification biometrics with contactless capabilities.
OTI chairman, president and CEO Oded Bashan, stated, "The Basel Project will allow secured and easy personal identification of people during border crossing while minimizing unnecessary contact and friction. Our SmartID product meets stringent demands of the Israeli MoD and has proved itself in secured environments applications around the world. We feel this is the perfect platform for other sensitive applications like a national ID program or a passport with contactless capabilities and look forward to working with other national authorities in the future."
The contract was awarded to a consortium headed by Electronic Data Systems, EDS, (NYSE: EDS), and includes OTI which furnishes the ISO 14443 compliant smart cards, readers and application software. Those wishing to cross into Israel will be required to obtain a contactless smart card that will be programmed with hand and facial biometrics and include recent photos and personal information programmed on a contactless chip embedded in the card. Those wishing to cross the border, which is expected to take no more than four to nine seconds, will be required to waive the card in front of a reader and place their hand on a biometric sensor for identification. Once the identity has been confirmed, an automatic gate will open allowing the person to cross into Israel.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 20 August 2003