Time and attendance, physical and logical access control applications, together and separately, are emerging as drivers in biometrics. Some enterprises have augmented traditional cards with biometrically-enhanced smart cards or moving further away from employee ID cards, replacing them with biometric systems. Such approaches reduce the overall cost of issuing, replacing and managing the physical cards with the added benefit of improved security, in some cases.
Then there is the impact of BYOD or “Bring Your Own Device.” Employees, especially the younger or tech-savvy ones, are using their own devices to interact with enterprise networks. As rumors swirl that the next iPhone will feature higher level authentication technology, there’s an increasing chance that BYOD will push biometrics into many enterprise businesses as well. Check elsewhere in this issue of Security magazine for more on BYOD.