2007 New Product of the Year Contest

May 13, 2008 4:12 PM

Read more about the 2007 Product of the Year Here's a look at the 2007 Top 20 Finalists View the complete list of the 2007 Product Entries

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When Privaris CEO John Petze recently visited a corporate customer to talk about the company's new plusID technology for biometric security, he knew he had some convincing to do. For many companies, biometrics is perceived as involving a costly, infrastructure-heavy appliance to maintain vast amounts of personal data on a central server.

Now Petze had to convince them that technology had bypassed that perception. Fortunately it wasn't very difficult. Even as the sales call was taking place, the corporate security manager was busy programming the front door to allow access using a small handheld token featuring a fingerprint sensor. The device contains personal data that, when matched to the user's fingerprint, releases a signal just like a traditional access card to unlock the door.

This small device represents a paradigm shift for biometrics, and has been named 2007's New Product of the Year. The product was chosen as winner by a panel of judges and a tally of reader votes from 20 finalists in the sixth annual contest sponsored by Access Control & Security Systems magazine. The biggest problem is that it seems just a little too easy.

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• View the 2006 Product of the Year information

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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