Better access control could also bring peace of mind to people who lose laptop PCs or portable devices containing sensitive information. For corporations, who may spend hundreds of dollars per employee each year on password maintenance, fingerprint recognition or biometric authentication techniques could be a less expensive alternative to keep the network secure, backers of the technology argue. Companies could also use scanners instead of keys or combinations on building doors. Other methods include voice recognition, hand recognition, iris scanning, and face scanning. Those who work in factories and might have dirty fingers would find the systems didn't always recognize their prints.
Most devices use optical technology to read prints.
But AuthenTec's technology monitors electrical impulses given off by the ridges and valleys of living tissue. For that reason, no one could chop off a finger and try to use it to fool a scanner. That makes it easy for a cell-phone maker or PC maker to integrate it into its products, without adding much to the cost. AuthenTec, based in Melbourne, is the brainchild of some engineers from Harris Corp., where Mr. Moody was a vice president in the semiconductor group. They suggested that they could reduce costs with a chip that users put their finger directly on.