Hitachi to expand work on vein-recognition systems

Hitachi Ltd. announced Tuesday it will expand its finger-vein authentication system business as interest in the technology grows.

On Nov. 1, the company will establish a dedicated Finger Vein Authentication Business Center with four regional subsidiaries in North America, Europe, China and Asia, according to a press release. The company will customize finger-vein authentication systems for customers in those regions, it said.

Finger-vein identification systems are more compact than iris-identification systems and less susceptible to duplication than fingerprint-identification systems, Hitachi said. Light is projected through a person's finger, enabling a high-contrast matching of vein patterns.

Hitachi has developed a finger-vein recognition system small enough to be installed in laptop computers and mobile handsets. The company began researching finger-vein authentication technology in 1997 and holds a number of patents in vein pattern biometric certification systems, it said.