Consumer
advocates and privacy activists may not like it, but it looks like
facial recognition is here to stay. Just a week ago, Facebook (FB)
announced that it had purchased facial-recognition technology company
Face.com, a three year old business based in Israel. Investors are
taking a closer look at this
industry, and according to WallStreetNewsNetork.com, there are a dozen facial recognition companies to choose from.
There are several large players with facial
recognition as a small portion of the business including 3M (MMM), with
the Cogent BioTrust biometric logon software, and the CAFIS system which
can integrate facial recognition authentication. Apple (AAPL) has the
iPhoto software Faces. A couple years ago, Apple purchased the Sweden based
Polar Rose facial recognition company for $22 million. Google
(GOOG) is also involved in facial recognition, including its use of PittPatt technology to allow Picasa to add name tags to
pictures.
Safran SA owns L-1 Identity
Solutions (SAFRY), one of leaders in the face recognition
arena. The company provides facial biometric technology to casinos and
the gaming industry. L-1 has such products as FaceEXPLORER, a mugshot
booking solution, FaceIt® Argus, a security checkpoint face screening
system, and the ABIS® System FaceExaminer that analyzes, searches and
identifies faces of wanted subjects taken from poor quality surveillance
video. Safran trades at 23 times earnings.
AuthenTec
(AUTH), a seecurity and identity management company, produces the
TCEFC1 TouchChip module used with the Mobile Offender Recognition and
Identification System known as MORIS. The stock trades at 29 times
forward earnings.
WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has turned up a list of over ten companies involved in facial recognition. The free list can be downloaded, sorted, and updated.
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
By Stockerblog.com
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