"As the largest smart and proximity card provider in the world, HID Global has thousands of users who would like to upgrade to biometric authorisation, but may not have the budget or the resources to invest in biometric readers," added Robert Fee, director of sales, Americas, Zwipe. "The Zwipe biometric card provides an easy, affordable option for security professionals to extend the use of their present card systems by adding biometrics for multi-factor, card-based authentication."

By providing authorised users with Zwipe Access biometric cards that interoperate with their existing Iclass and 125 kHz Proxcard readers, these organisations can now benefit from the leading edge biometric authorisation technology by simply incorporating the card into their existing systems in the same way they already incorporate proximity or HID Global smart cards. The Zwipe solution enables customers to extend the life of their existing infrastructure while simultaneously increasing its security.

With Zwipe's patented on-card authentication technology, only the authorised cardholder can activate card communication with the reader. This means no more lending or borrowing of ID badges to access buildings, university labs, hospital pharmacies, data centers or networks. By upgrading the authentication from something they carry (a card) to something they are (a fingerprint), the issues associated with a lost or stolen credential are dramatically reduced.

The problems associated with PINs and passwords are eliminated through the use of Zwipe's biometric authentication technology. The on-card fingerprint scanner with 3D capacitive technology resides on the contactless smart card that utilises an embedded HID Global 13.56MHz Iclass or 125kHz Proximity transponder. The Zwipe biometric card is also compatible with Mifare Classic and Desfire EV1.

By incorporating Zwipe's biometric solution to access control, organisations can increase the security of their systems, their employees and their assets by changing the authentication from something you carry to something you are without any modification to their existing infrastructure.