BusinessWire
June 26, 2006 08:14 AM US Pacific Timezone

NANOIDENT Technologies AG Announces New Biometrics Division and Appoints Managing Director; New Organic Semiconductor-Based Biometric Sensors to Improve Recognition Accuracy and Identity Theft Protection

LINZ, Austria--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2006--NANOIDENT Technologies AG, the leading company in the development and manufacture of organic semiconductor-based photonic solutions, today announced the launch of a new division -- NANOIDENT Biometrics GmbH. The company also announced that this division will be led by Managing Director, Alain Jutant, who brings a deep expertise in biometrics and image sensors to the company. NANOIDENT Biometrics will use the company's revolutionary Photonic Solutions Platform(TM) to create the world's first family of organic semiconductor-based swipe, large area and display-integrated biometric sensors. These sensors significantly enhance recognition accuracy and identity theft protection while simultaneously lowering sensor costs for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

NANOIDENT's biometric sensor family provides OEMs with a thin, flexible, high precision organic semiconductor-based device that enables the secure and reliable detection of biometric features. The company offers two sensor types -- entry-level fingerprint sensors and high performance multimodal biometric sensors. A biometric industry first, the multimodal capability enables the detection of multiple biometric traits, including tissue structures beneath the surface of the skin and blood parameters. Combined, the simultaneous capture of fingerprint and unique skin properties significantly increases recognition accuracy, while the detection of blood parameters enhances protection against identity theft by means of a fake finger. This breakthrough multimodal capability is available across all of NANOIDENT Biometrics' swipe, large area and display-integrated sensors.

NANOIDENT's manufacturing process also significantly reduces the cost of biometric sensors, creating new opportunities for the sensors to be embedded into mobile devices such as smart phones or PDAs for increased security. And, for the first time, the multimodal biometric smart card sensor enables the integration of a complete biometric verification system (system-on-card) into an ISO/IEC 7816-compliant smart card, eliminating the need for separate databases to store sensitive biometric information.

"NANOIDENT Biometrics was established to serve a segment with significant market potential for our Photonic Solutions Platform," said Klaus G. Schroeter, CEO, NANOIDENT. "With the appointment of Alain Jutant as the division's managing director, we are confident that the introduction of NANOIDENT biometric sensors will lead the way for the future of mobile devices and smart cards by significantly improving their security, reliability and user interface. We are pleased to bring forward new applications that will have a profound market impact."

Biometric Sensor Features

NANOIDENT's biometric sensor family is developed from the company's Photonic Solutions Platform and provides the following features and benefits:

-- Acquisition of fingerprints and tissue structures -- simultaneous acquisition of several biometric traits enables significantly higher recognition accuracy

-- Acquisition of blood parameters -- integrated fraud detection technology prevents identity theft through fake fingers, increasing overall biometric system security

-- Sensor-integrated indicator OLEDs (organic light emitting diode) -- provide user feedback about identification process

-- Ambient light sensor -- automated OLED brightness control

The multimodal approach combined with a unique integrated fraud detection technology solves the two most pressing problems of the entire biometric industry -- insufficient recognition accuracy and insufficient protection against security attacks.

NANOIDENT Biometrics Managing Director, Alain Jutant

As managing director of NANOIDENT Biometrics, Alain Jutant will lead the division as it emerges into the market. This is the second division announced by the company, joining the already established NANOIDENT ORGANIC FAB GmbH.

Alain Jutant brings more than 20 years experience in the semiconductor and biometric sensor markets to the company. Prior to NANOIDENT, Jutant served as the Business Development and Consumer Imaging Product Line director at ATMEL-Grenoble, where he oversaw market sales development for all product lines in Asia and managed a team of marketing engineers. At ATMEL, he also developed and oversaw the new CMOS image sensor and fingerprint sensor product lines, growing the consumer imaging product line more than 30 percent during his tenure. Prior to ATMEL, Jutant held several management positions at Thomson-CSF Semiconductors where he was responsible for developing the CCD sensor/camera business for the medical and graphic arts markets. In addition, he spent several years at Philips Semiconductors where he was involved with CCD, NMOS and CMOS, IC design and foundry interfaces for infrared imaging.

"NANOIDENT's revolutionary manufacturing process enables new biometric sensors to be printed on to a thin glass or plastic substrate. With substantially lower costs, these sensors can directly replace silicon-based fingerprint sensors in a wide range of existing applications, such as access control, USB memory sticks, mobile and handheld devices or IT security systems," said Alain Jutant, managing director, NANOIDENT Biometrics. "I am excited and honored to be leading this division at NANOIDENT as we usher in a new, disruptive technology."

About NANOIDENT

NANOIDENT is the technology leader in the development and manufacture of organic semiconductor-based photonic solutions. The company's core technology utilizes the latest breakthroughs in materials science and nanotechnology to create a revolutionary Photonic Solutions Platform(TM). The NANOIDENT Photonic Solutions Platform is used to produce the world's first commercial organic photonic sensors, forming a whole new generation of applications in the industrial, biometric and life science markets.

NANOIDENT's extremely fast manufacturing process uses liquid conductive and semiconductive materials. This liquid is used to print electronic circuits on almost any surface using an inkjet printer, producing products in minutes for prototype as well as high volume applications. The company's photonic devices are bendable, disposable, light and ultra thin, have application specific spectral properties, and can contain light sources and light detectors as well as electronic circuits. These unique characteristics enable cost effective large device areas for applications such as industrial and biometric sensors, biochip readers, and displays for smart packaging and electronic signage. Privately-held, the company is based in Linz, Austria.