ZyGoDigital and True Image have released nStantID Checker, a product designed to be an inexpensive alternative to biometric security devices using QuickTime technology.
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Checker allows field personnel to verify IDs using nothing more than a PDA, according to Rod Sheffield, president and CEO of ZyGoDigital. The system provides a database of ID information, including the ID image on a PDA. Verifying a person’s identity is a simple matter of comparing the PDA image, the ID Card and the person, Sheffield said. Data for over 10,000 people, including images, can be provided on a PDA.
“Checker is a two part application,” Sheffield told MacCentral. “The part which imports or creates the IDs runs exclusively on a Mac and downloads PDB files to the Palm. The other part runs on Palm devices and does the actual field checking, finally synching back up with the Mac database. Why would we use a PC where we have to add a DV capture card to work with a video camera and then have to work with special Windows driver architectures when QuickTime gives us DV decode natively? It just doesn’t make sense to us to do it otherwise.”
The True Image versions of the software work the same way, he added.
“We are heavily committed to doing things with Apple equipment and QuickTime,” Sheffield said.
Unlike biometric systems Checker doesn’t require real-time access to networks, predefined access points, or any special sensors. Biometric technologies are appropriate for institutions with large budgets, fixed access points and high security needs, Sheffield said. But for enterprises where portability and cost are issues, Checker provides a simple low cost, highly reliable and accurate solution, he added.
Checker also includes an integrated desktop ID Card system that allows on-the-spot creation of photo IDs and download of the data to the PDA. Checker is purportedly compatible with most other ID systems and ID data may be imported from simple tab delimited files. Any QuickTime supported image format may be processed for download to the PDA.
Checker is based on True Image technology developed to provide schools with instant ID cards and PDA based Student Information Systems (SIS). nStantID Checker software can be purchased on the ZyGoDigital Web site.