Friday, December 31, 2010

Another One Bites the Dust

As we end 2010, another voice biometrics vendor has ridden off into the sunset. According to a press release, Ivrnet, Inc., a Canadian communications company, has acquired Diaphonic's voice biometrics software at "minimal cost." The press release goes on to say that Ivrnet plans to "fully integrate the voice biometric software into their entire line of speech products, with an aggressive marketing campaign set to begin in March 2011."

I'm afraid that this news does not bode well for the voice biometrics industry.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Citibank to Roll Out Voice Biometrics in Australia

According to an October 15, 2010 article in zdnetasia.com, Citibank Australia is planning to roll out voice biometrics for identification to select early adopters.

Citibank Australia CEO Roy Gori stated "I think the next step in the evolution of security is voice biometrics. A person's voiceprint is more accurate than their fingerprint, iris or any other means of identification."

According to Gor, implementing voice biometrics would save Citibank Australia a lot of time and money, because it would cut out the traditional asking of questions for identification. He also stated that the next step after testing is completed is to get people to register and agree to it. Trials began six weeks in August, and early adopters could be using the system by the beginning of 2011.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Voice Biometrics Helps Uncover Terror Plot in Europe

According to an October 5 item from the Associated Press,"the British eavesdropping agency GCHQ deployed voice identification software to help uncover the plot that officials say has targeted Germany, Britain and France." The article goes on to say that voice biometrics has played a role thwarting other terror plots in the past.

Voice biometrics experts believe that the technology has strong potential for streamlining intelligence operations. For example, both the U.S. and British intelligence gather huge amounts of electronic eavesdropping data. Persay's CEO, Almog Aley-Raz offered that "using voice biometrics could allow officials to scan a large number of phone conversations for several suspects' voices."

Voice biometrics may not be perfect (i.e., subject to background noise, etc.) but it has proven to be a valuable tool in the ongoing war on terror.