Integrated Biometrics: A conversation with CEO Steve Thies

 

 

By Adam Vrankulj

April 4, 2014 - 

Integrated Biometrics is a biometric sensor provider, which boasts super-thin sensors and high resolution images.

The company’s sensors use a patented technology, which relies on a thin film to capture images and is flexible in terms of integrations, as the sensors themselves have such a small physical footprint. BiometricUpdate.com had a chance to chat with CEO Steve Thies about the technology, the company and the future.

“[Our sensors capture fingerprints] from a real image of the finger,” Thies said. “Once you put your finger on our film, an electric field runs through the film and illuminates the film to produce a high resolution image of your finger – close to 1500 dpi.”

According to Thies, Integrated’s film sensor with a TFT camera is less than 300 microns thick.

“We’ve got good adoption programs with our finger FAP 45 scanners,” Thies said. “We’ve got one that’s called the Watson and one that’s called the Sherlock, and both of those products are being accepted in both domestic and international markets.”

Currently, the company’s products are predominantly aimed at the government space, though Thies says the consumer space is something the company is currently watching closely.

“What we produce today is our FBI-certified scanners in FAP 30 and FAP 45 sizes, with a couple of other sizes on our drawing board for 2014,” Thies said. “We think our technology is ideally suited for high-value, high-security transactions.”

“Our TFT-film combination is dynamite for mobile applications.”

Reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, the company recently launched its IBtap area fingerprint sensor, which has flexible physical properties, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. According to the company, the IBtap flexible fingerprint sensor is the world’s only non-optical FBI certified fingerprint sensor. 

Due to the nature of Integrated Biometrics’ film sensor technology, it is relatively finger-agnostic, working with both moist and dry fingers, young and old fingers and even dirty fingers.

“We call our sensor the smartest scanner because the technology adapts to the finger you put on the sensor,” Thies said.

As CEO of the company, Thies works closely with the company’s CTO, as well as the operations and business development teams. He also works closely with investors and is charged with ensuring everyone at the organization is working on Integrated Biometrics strategic initiatives.

The company produces its sensors in South Korea, but also has employees in the United States According to Thies, there are approximately ten employees in the United States and another twenty in South Korea.

As for future steps, Thies says the company is looking to add to its team, and increase its distribution around the world.

“Biometrics is all about having high performance identity, and you can’t make data better if you don’t start with data itself,” Thies said.