Passwords can be cracked. Swipe cards can be stolen. Intelitrak's Citadel Gatekeeper is a speaker verification technology that compares a user's voice to a stored sample. BAC's first product, SecureTouch, is a small, Windows-compatible PC peripheral not much bigger than a computer mouse. It is an optical system that captures images of fingerprints and compares them to a database of stored templates.
Every biometric system performs somewhat similarly.
Each begins by capturing an image of a physical trait and making a template. When someone seeks access under that name again, the system will compare his biometrics with the template, and decide whether to grant access. CSC, a computer services giant, was turned on by BAC's prices, and purchased about 300 SecureTouch systems for its Chicago-based index division. That's just not realistic in the commercial world. Another potential customer, Aquila Technologies Group, is evaluating Citadel Gatekeeper to protect information inside nuclear facilities, Intelitrak says.