Enterprise security: emphasis on enterprise security drives silicon chip fingerprint sensors market

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October 2007 Sensors & Transducers

With almost every major PC manufacturer integrating silicon chip fingerprint sensors in their products, the market appears set to thrive. The success of silicon chip fingerprint technology will likely contribute to its integration in other consumer products such as door locks, safes, cellphones and PDAs.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.autoID.frost.com) finds that the worldwide silicon chip fingerprint market earned revenues of $113,6 million in 2006, and estimates this to grow exponentially to $1,9 billion in 2013.

"This exceptional growth in the silicon fingerprint market is primarily due to the growing popularity of biometric-enabled laptops and PC peripherals," says Frost and Sullivan research analyst Imran F. Khan. "Also, increasing security concerns drive manufacturers from vertical markets toward a relatively safe and convenient security solution such as silicon fingerprint sensors."

Cellphone manufacturers in particular have recently expressed interest in silicon chip fingerprint sensors due to their small size and low power consumption, which make it an ideal security solution for portable and battery-operated devices. The growing popularity of silicon fingerprint-enabled laptops and cellphones will also likely fuel adoption of silicon sensors in door access, automobiles, and ATMs.

Despite several factors that drive market growth, the inability of silicon sensors to produce high quality and high-resolution images prevents their use in government ID applications and forensics, thereby limiting expansion in these sectors.

"To overcome the challenge posed by optical sensors, manufacturers are encouraging their research units to develop high-end silicon chips to get its scanning level to compete effectively with optical scanners," says Khan. "In addition, the recent FIPS201 certification of UPEK's TouchChip fingerprint sensors for use in government ID projects is likely to prompt other market participants to develop sensors with enhanced features and in turn, boost the general uptake of silicon sensors in the physical access control market."

Currently, manufacturers are hoping to boost revenues by introducing silicon sensor-enabled cellphones in the North American and European markets, after the huge success of similar cellphones in the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, key market participants' investments in the technological development of high-end silicon fingerprint sensors will determine the market's future growth.

World Silicon Chip Fingerprint Markets is part of the Automatic Identification & Security Growth Partnership Service, which includes research services in the following markets: World Biometrics Markets, North American Criminal AFIS markets, and World Hand Geometry Markets. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

For more information contact Patrick Cairns, Frost & Sullivan, +27 (0)21 680 3274, patrick.cairns@frost.com, www.frost.com

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Enterprise security: emphasis on enterprise security drives silicon chip fingerprint sensors market

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