The EMEA Biometrics Market Offers Significant Growth Opportunities, Says Frost & Sullivan

LONDON, December 15 - The biometrics market has gained steady momentum in the EMEA region
(Europe, Middle East and Africa) in recent years. The various government
projects newly issued are expected to counterbalance the negative impact that
the current economic recession is having on the commercial and financial
sectors. Infrastructure security developments like e-Passports, the national
ID programme, as well as seaports, and airports will be driving the market.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.autoid.frost.com), EMEA
Biometrics Market, finds that the market earned euro 216.1 million in 2008
and is anticipated to reach euro 1,058.0 million by 2015, growing at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5 per cent from 2008 to 2015.
Technologies covered include: non-AFIS, face recognition, iris recognition,
hand geometry as well as voice and signature verification.

"There is great demand for more reliable, accurate and secure measures to
validate and authenticate individuals for both physical and network/IT
access," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Matia Grossi. "Hence,
biometric technologies including fingerprint, face and iris recognition are
increasingly finding use for physical/logical access control, transactional
authentication, time and attendance, travel/identity documents and border
control applications."

The convergence of security for physical and logical access control
through the use of smart cards with embedded fingerprint biometric technology
is a major market driver. It is projected to become the standard in many
organisations for secure identity management.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) 9303 mandate and
European Commission (EC) 2252 passport regulation will likely push the
deployment of biometric passports. Biometric national IDs, driving license
and healthcare card schemes are also expected to gain momentum in additional
European countries in the next three years.

"The Schengen Visa, which features embedded fingerprint biometric
technology, will continue to boost revenues for border control solutions,"
adds Grossi. "The iris recognition immigration system (IRIS) programme is
currently functional in airports including Birmingham, Gatwick, Heathrow,
Manchester and Stansted. It is set to be widely adopted in other UK and
European airports in the next three to five years."

Customers still perceive biometric solutions as key value additions to
their security deployments; however the severe budget cuts on spending for
high capital-intensive investments in the current economic climate have
negatively impacted the market. For example, the Department of Transportation
in the United Kingdom withdrew tenders for the development and implementation
of a facial recognition pilot scheme that was intended to develop into a full
system in November 2008.

"Biometric vendors need to reiterate the cost benefits of their
products," advises Grossi. "They should constantly redefine their product
portfolio and the value added services they provide and ensure a faster
return on investment (ROI) for the end user."

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an
e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at
joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title,
telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and
country.

EMEA Biometrics Market is part of the Automatic Identification & Security
Growth Partnership Service programme, which also includes research in the
following markets: Electronic Physical Security in Banking and Finance,
Electronic Physical Security in Retail, European Security Services Market,
European Intrusion Detection System Market and, Opportunities in the European
Access Control Market. All research included in subscriptions provide
detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated
following extensive interviews with market participants.

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                       EMEA Biometrics Market
                              M410-11

    Contact:
    Joanna Lewandowska
    Corporate Communications - Europe
    P: +48-22-390-41-46
    E: joanna.lewandowska@frost.com

www.frost.com

Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications - Europe, Frost & Sullivan, +48-22-390-41-46, joanna.lewandowska at frost.com