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Monday, August 13, 2007

Lumidigm Is on a Roll, With a New Scanner and An Award

By Andrew Webb
Copyright ©2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer
    Albuquerque biometrics startup Lumidigm has had another busy summer with the release of a new, less expensive off-the-shelf fingerprint scanner, a major new customer and a prestigious government research award.
    Lumidigm is a five-year-old, venture capital-backed spinoff of Albuquerque-based Inlight Solutions, which is developing noninvasive glucose monitoring devices that use light shot through skin, instead of blood samples.
    Lumidigm's technology uses light, in the words of vice president of business development Matthew Ennis, to "interrogate skin."
    The company's fingerprint scanners use multispectral flashes of light to record images of subdermal structures, such as capillaries, which form the foundation for an individual's fingerprint. Software in the device then reconstructs an image of the user's fingerprint. The technology virtually eliminates unreadable results caused by weather or poor skin condition, and because it requires a living finger, prevents spoofing attempts, such as using a prosthetic finger.
    Several corporations and government agencies have tested early versions of Lumidigm's technology for such things as controlling building access and gathering fingerprint data on foreign visitors to the country.
    When the Journal checked in with Lumidigm a year ago, the company had unveiled its first line of commercial products and, though the company could not officially acknowledge it, begun a major rollout at one of the world's most famous theme parks.
    That major deployment— which called for up to 250,000 fingerprint scans a day and subjected the devices to such rough treatment as harsh outdoor temperatures and power washing— provided a good real-world test for Lumidigm's devices, Ennis said.
    The rugged device also caught the attention of Research and Development Magazine.
   
Research award
    That first generation of fingerprint scanner, the J-Series, was awarded a 2007 R&D 100 award, which the company will officially receive in October. R&D 100 awards are given for the 100 most significant technological projects produced each year.
    Though the state's national labs have received many R&D 100 awards, few private companies, among them Albuquerque's MesoSystems, have received what are commonly regarded as "The Oscars of Invention."
    "The team of engineers at Lumidigm have not only added a prestigious international feather to their cap, they have drawn worldwide attention to New Mexico as an international center for technology, research and development," Economic Development Department Secretary Fred Mondragon said in a news release.
    The company, which has 25 employees and operates out of 801 University Blvd. SE Suite 203, posted revenues of just more than $2 million last year, according to information provided to the Flying 40 annual tech listing.
    Following on the successful tests of the J-Series, Lumidigm recently release a new fingerprint scanner based on the same technology but designed for high-volume manufacturing and lower cost.
   
New product
    Like the J-Series, the Venus Series is built by local Delta Electronics. In high-volume orders, it will cost closer to $500, compared with the J-Series' $5,000 price tag.
    The smaller devices are designed for a wide range of uses, including door access control, employee time and attendance, verifying identity, and securing inventory, such as medicines at a hospital.
    The devices come with metal cases, or in just-the-guts form that customers can use to create their own fingerprint systems.
    Ennis says Lumidigm expects to be building the Venus Series devices at a rate of 1,000 per month by the end of the year.
    One of the first customers for the Venus Series will be Keiko Hightech Inc., a Korean security company whose customers include government and corporate entities in Asia and, through partner UK Biometrics, the United Kingdom.
    The deal gives Lumidigm worldwide distribution.
    In a news release, Lumidigm CEO Bob Harbour said Keico would create its own security and time and attendance devices using Lumidigm's technology.
    "We are eager to see our joint products installed around the world," he said.