Feb 2008 – Malawi Drivers Licence AFIS

Face Technologies, QiSQi, and Innovatrics introduce a new generation of AFIS.

Face Technologies, a world market leader in business solutions for effective identification focusing on biometrics and smart card technologies based in South Africa and QiSQi, a leading player in consulting, developing and manufacturing of materials, hardware and software for biometric identification and secure documents, based in France, UK and Belgium, today announce a prosperous partnership.

The partnership was sealed successfully with the first integration of the fast AFIS fingerprint algorithm of Innovatrics for the Republic of Malawi for the specific use in the Transport Information System (Driver’s License Application and Card Production). Face Technologies, having a proven record of large-scale, high security card projects in various African and Asian countries, was looking for a new partner in Biometrics for emerging projects.

The specific client requirements were demanding: speed and accuracy on large scale databases, flexibility of integration, and compliance with mainstream database systems. Face Technologies, with the assistance of QiSQi, has successfully tested the Innovatrics ExpressID AFIS matching software. Face Technologies has given the green light to implement ExpressID as a standard AFIS matcher to its existing identity management solution.

"We strive to provide leading-edge technologies in our solutions so that our customers continuously benefit from the latest innovations," said Mr. Serfontein, Face Technologies' MD. He continued, "We are impressed by Innovatrics AFIS technology, and with QiSQi on board as our consultancy affiliate, we are now well positioned to leap ahead in the AFIS market."

This triumvirate of Face Technologies, QiSQi, and Innovatrics announces a new wave of identification technology in Africa, Asia and Europe, where security documents and biometrics meet their needs for a high secure environment according the international standards.

Jan 2009 - Mozambique Voters Registration AFIS

Biometric Voting In Mozambique By Face Technologies Using QiSQi Biometrics and Innovatrics AFIS.

Face Technologies implemented a biometric voter registration platform for the local, provincial and national elections in Mozambique. The government has chosen biometrics to prevent duplicate votes and to ensure the democratic environment.

The partnership between Face Technologies, a world market leader in business solutions for effective identification focusing on biometrics and smart card technologies based in South Africa, and QiSQi, leading player in biometric services and manufacturing of secure documents, continues to thrive.

Challenges for Face Technologies include enrolling 10 million voters on the fields, in the towns and in the country, as well as instantly identifying voters registering more than once.

Face Technologies, with the assistance of QiSQi, has successfully deployed the Innovatrics IDKit Mobile SDK on 3500 mobile enrolment stations, as well as the Innovatrics ExpressID AFIS Government Edition on 17 parallel servers for instant identification. Thanks to the fast AFIS matcher and the compatibility of biometric engines on handhelds and servers, the architecture provides "real-time" answer and thus ensures a democratic voting process.

"The ease-of-use of Innovatrics products across both mobile and server platforms, and the responsiveness of the technical team accelerated the deployment process in record-breaking time," said Johann Caubergh, CEO of QiSQi.

Viktor Fischer, Director of Business Development at Innovatrics continued, "It is a pleasure to work with industry-leading companies with expertise in system integration and biometrics. Proper implementation of biometrics guarantees reliability of the final system and satisfaction of the government and the population – ensuring democracy in developing countries."

The triumvirate of Face Technologies, QiSQi and Innovatrics once again proves its capacity to be competitive in technology, budget and integration.

26 March 2009 – India – Bihar

Smaarftech Rolls Out e-Shakti Project In Bihar Under NREGS

Glodyne Technoserve, a technology infrastructure management services company, through its subsidiary Smaarftech Technologies and Face Technologies, a South African company has partnered with the Rural Development Department of the Government of Bihar in implementing and managing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) project in Bihar.

The NREGS scheme, an initiative of Government of India, guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to below-the-poverty-line (BPL) households. This scheme treats employment as a right and the programme is intended to be demand driven. Bihar is the first state in the country to have launched the Scheme in the entire state through e-Shakti project, which is completely technology driven.

A consortium led by Smaarftech Technologies and consisting of Face Technologies, a provider of identity management solutions from South Africa and Anil Printers will be instrumental in the implementation of the e-Shakti Project.

The project seeks to bring in contactless smartcards for workers registered with NREGS for their wage disbursement, identification and a host of other service features. The e-Shakti project has the potential not only to generate more employment directly and indirectly, but also to transform rural economic and social relations at many levels.

27 March 2009 SL – DL

Sri Lankan Driving Licenses to go High-tech

The Department of Motor Traffic has taken an initiative to introduce a new driving license card to Sri Lanka using state-of-the-art smart card technology to capture and store driver information.

The department will also implement a user-friendly driving license management system to streamline the process of personalisation, production and issuing of the new smart driving licenses based on a build operate and transfer basis for the convenience of Sri Lankan motorists.

The project will be implemented by biometrics specialists Face Technologies who have formed a joint venture with Metropolitan Group as its local partner and Austria Card as the technology partner.

“We are greatly privileged to have been entrusted with this project”, said Mr. Willem van Schalkwyk Business Development Manager of Face Technologies. “While we have implemented many driving license projects worldwide, this solution will be customized to meet the requirements of the Department of Motor traffic in Sri Lanka”, he added.

The state-of-the-art smartcard based driving license will contain a microchip that will carry driver information including a digital photograph, fingerprint and digital signature. The card will be laser engraved and have high tech security features such as optically variable ink, holograms, guilloches and micro printing. All information stored on the onboard chip will also be encrypted with the latest encryption technology.

The entire project is being implemented on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, with the total investment, in the order of 25 million US dollars. The supply includes all application software, computer infrastructure (servers, networking and workstations), as well support and maintenance and operational services for seven years. The total upfront investment is provided by Face Technologies and Metropolitan Group. This means that no capital investment is required from DMT. Mr. Ivor Maharoof - CEO of Metropolitan Office explained that this smart card-based solution can also be extended to include integration to the national identity card and the electronic passport as in many developed countries.

This will allow for the information in its electronic form to be shared by the relevant government agencies. Mr. J J Ambani Chairman of the Metropolitan Group said “We consider it an honour to have been chosen to implement this nationally significant project. We have the technical competence to implement this project and are proud to bring the latest smart card technology to Sri Lanka, with our partners Face Technologies and Austria Card”.

10 June 2009 – Ethiopia Biometrics project

Face Technologies implements fingerprint-based taxpayer identification for Ethiopia

By Dereje Berhanu

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Customs and Tax Authority (CTA) has commenced with a project for fingerprint-based taxpayer ID system numbers. The new fingerprint identification system has started in Addis Ababa and will continue to towns in regional states.

Mr. Melaku Fenta, CTA General Director told journalist this week that the authority plans to collect 1.5 million taxpayers’ fingerprints within eight months. According to the plan, the first phase will entail the registration of more than half million businessmen, civil servants and about 180,000 government university students enrolled in the cost sharing programmes.

Under the current TIN system, about 433,000 taxpayers have been registered across the nation. According to Ethiopian law a taxpayer has to have only one TIN number. “TIN duplication has created a problem in the national tax system that is why the authority came to the conclusion to use biometric system which does not allow duplication to take place”, said Melaku.

Copy Cat Limited, a Kenyan firm, together with Face Technologies, a South African company has won the contract to provide CTA with biometric equipment to carry out the fingerprint taxpayer system with 66 million birr.

“The company has enormous experience in Africa and Asia. We will first use biometric registration within the tax system in Ethiopia and later on would move towards integrating it in other sectors in long term we envision a national identification card”, said Melaku