Over the last decade, biometrics has become the preferred technology for many identity management implementations in the southern African region.

One of the major players in the acceptance of the technology is the Morpho brand from Safran. Morpho’s experience dates back to 1979, including partnerships with international law enforcement and government agencies.The design of Morpho fingerprint terminals results from extensive experience in biometric solutions. 

In South Africa, Ideco is the sole supplier of world-leading Morpho biometric terminals. Over 60 000 Morpho fingerprint readers are deployed across the country to securely manage more than 2 million people in a diverse range of professionally-managed, security-conscious businesses.

Softcon is an Ideco certified partner. Softcon has integrated the Morpho biometric technology into its access control solution, providing clients with a seamless interface that is filled with advanced features available in the powerful Softwin3 package, while leveraging off Morpho’s world class fingerprint technology.

Morpho – Technology brief

Fingerprint-based identity management (IDM) solutions can be applied to numerous other systems where identity-based fraud is rife. Innovative IDM solutions can minimise criminal activities in many areas of business such as workforce management, canteen systems, account management etc. Reliable identification is of fundamental importance in industries where environmental hazards must be contended with. In harsh working environments, it is essential to be able tolocateall staff at all times.

Testing and benchmarking surveys by the US National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and NIST Minutia Interoperability Exchange (MINEX) consistently rank Morpho algorithms among the world’s top performers.
Morpho algorithms are entrusted to manage more than 2 billion fingerprints worldwide.

Picture of a fingerprint with minutiae

A fingerprint is referred to as a template, the unique pattern formed by true minutia points distinguishes one fingerprint from all others.Typically, a fingerprint has around 80 minutia points.These are the positions on a fingerprint where ridges split or end. A damaged fingerprint could have 150 minutia points, of which some 50% may be false. If these false points are misinterpreted as true minutiae, there is the obvious likelihood of mismatching. Morpho’s algorithms recognise and exclude these false minutiae, resulting in more accurate templates. These abilities are also clearly proven in environments that typically exhibit the worst quality fingerprints: mining, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and pension payments.

The size of a scanner’s surface area determines the amount of fingerprint and minutia data that can be captured: the larger the surface area, the larger the amount of data. Morpho scanners capture much more data, so a user can place their finger differently every time they scan and a positive match will always be made.

Morpho terminals can work in identification mode, verification mode or a combination of both. Identification compares a person’s fingerprint to all records in the database, returning an exact match and positively identifying them. This process is called one-to-many or 1:N. Verification matches a user’s fingerprint data with additional information in their possession – for example a password, ID number, PIN or card. This process is called one-to-one or 1:1.

Morpho‘s superior scanners and algorithms deliver faster and more accurate identification than any other fingerprint technology based on the scanners’ ability to capture accurate data as well as the algorithms’ analytical and predictive capabilities.