Today, there are a variety of off-the-shelf hardware solutions that make it possible to marry biometric authentication with existing prox card installations at very low cost. With these products, security managers can respond to post-Sept. 11 security concerns without having to put their prox cards out to pasture in favor of costly new technology.
For fixed checkpoints such as doorways, there are now a few commercial biometric capture devices that can be placed next to wall-mounted prox card readers or purchased as one-piece fingerprint/prox card reader units. The two systems can be used in tandem to match the fingerprint of a person seeking entry to the cardholder’s identity.