Fujitsu's PalmSecure device authenticates an individual based on the unique patterns of the veins of their palms. The contactless device (working at an approximate distance of 50mm) attaches to the USB port of a PC, and is provided in the form of a mouse in the new LOGONDIRECTOR product (more below).

According to the vendor, the device works by shooting near-infrared rays at the user's palm; rays that are absorbed by the deoxidized hemoglobin present in the user's palm veins, therefore reducing the reflection rate of the rays and causing the veins themselves to appear as a black pattern. This pattern can then be verified against the user's pre-registered pattern for authentication. The vendor notes that not only must the scanned pattern match the registered pattern for the user, but additionally the scanning process requires that the deoxidized hemoglobin must be actively flowing within the user's veins to be properly scanned. According to research conducted by the vendor, the technology yields a false acceptance rate of less than 0.00008% and a false rejection rate of 0.01%.

Features of the PalmSecure device include:

- A size of 35 x 35 x 27mm

- Operates in temperatures of from 0 to 60 degrees Celsius

- Ships with an SDK in English or Japanese with sample apps and authentication accuracy evaluation tools.

New to the vendor's product line is LOGONDIRECTOR, which includes the PalmSecure technology in the form of a mouse and integrates with Windows infrastructures for palm-based single-sign-on deployments (Citrix, Oracle, and Sun are specifically listed). Available in two operational modes (Standard, for SMBs; and Enterprise for large and centrally managed deployments), the product leverages Active Directory or an SQL DB as its repository, including the ability to encrypt stored templates. Event logging and an administration console are also included.

Contact Fujitsu for further information.