UPEK, a fingerprint biometric security solutions provider has selected Singapore to home its International Headquarters (IHQ) which will manage all of its business outside of the United States.
The Emeryville, California-based company has had an office in Singapore as early as 2005 which served sales and manufacturing-oversight and support services but, decided to covert it into a IHQ because of the nation’s labor pool, its proximity to suppliers, business partners and customers, its unique central location and transport infrastructure.
“When the company was founded we had the vision to plan that UPEK would be international in scope and structure. Today realizes our vision to create a truly global organization, and also advances the vision of the Singapore government to embrace all multi-national companies, including earlier-stage companies such as ourselves who want to maintain operations in this exciting and dynamic part of the world,” said Alan Kramer, UPEK President and CEO in a prepared statement.
Biometric technology has seen a boom in recent years, growing at a rate of 40 percent year-on-year. According to the International Biometric Group, the global biometrics market – dominated by fingerprint recognition in 2006—is projected to grow from USD 2.1 billion in 2006 to USD 5.7 billion by 2010.
In an exclusive interview with SDA Asia Kramer said that the driving forces behind this trend can be attributed to government class applications which can be seen in Singapore itself which has implemented new passport standards that requires foreigners who come for a visit to provide their fingerprints to prevent forged passports.
Another area he said was with commercial consumer applications.
“In today’s world all the online passwords, all the accounts we have as well as things like securing the data that people carry on their notebook computers. Our largest market today is notebook computers…1 in 10 computers are shipping with fingerprint biometrics to secure the computers so if it’s lost no one else can turn it on and access the hard drive without the fingerprint…today UPEK ships with Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, Sony, Dell.”
UPEK’s fingerprint technology is based on the silicon technology which differs from the traditional optical sensing technology. Although a proven technology optical sensing consumed a lot of power, was expensive and because it was bulky, it was not possible to incorporate it into mobile equipments. Silicon based fingerprint technology is seen as a more flexible and lower cost alternative.
According to Kramer UPEK’s next stop is the cell phone industry.
“Today most people are primarily using their cell phones to talk, text message and surf the web. So if you are look at where the cell phone and the Internet is going today, its kind of an indication of where that market is heading,” said Kramer.
“When cell phones are used to access valuable accounts, when they get used to make transactions, there is going to be a need to secure those kinds of transactions and those account accesses.
“So we are working today both with handset manufacturers and operators to integrate the biometrics into the phone so that you will have an easy and secure way to secure those future transactions.”
According to Kramer, currently, fingerprint technology in cell phones is taking off only in Japan with Fujitsu spearheading this initiative by incorporating it into its mobile phones.
At the event, UPEK also announced that it has committed to building a Center of Excellence in Singapore, which will focus on hardware R&D and IC design, manufacturing operations and worldwide sales and logistics.
The company has also pledged to spend SGD 100 million over the next ten years to continue to build and strengthen its presence in Singapore, some of which will go towards procurement of materials and expanding headcount.
Besides Singapore, UPEK has offices in Prague, Taipei, Tokyo and recently opened one in Beijing, China. |
