Employees have long been identified by using something they carry with them such as proximity or barcode badge. Sometimes they identify themselves with something they know such as a password or PIN. Technological advancements have made superior levels of security and accuracy possible, and have resulted in a growing number of employees being recognized each day with something that they are: biometrics.

Biometric Reader products and services have exploded in the past few years, but the science behind it has been around for centuries. In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on clay tablets to solidify business transactions, and in the 14th century China merchants stamped children's palm and footprints to distinguish children from one another.

In the past three decades biometric readers have evolved from a single method (fingerprinting) to more than ten unique techniques. Biometric devices consist of a reader or scanning device, software that converts the gathered information into digital form, and a database that stores the biometric data for comparison with previous records. When converting the biometric input, the software identifies specific points of data as match points. The match points are processed using an algorithm into a value that can be compared with biometric data in the database.

Biometrics fall within two distinct categories: Physical and Behavioral.

Examples of physical biometrics include: Fingerprint - analyzing fingertip patterns Facial Recognition - measuring facial characteristics Hand Geometry - measuring the shape of the hand Iris Scan - analyzing features of colored ring of the eye Retinal Scan - analyzing blood vessels in the eye Vascular Patterns - analyzing vein patterns DNA - analyzing genetic makeup

Examples of behavioral biometrics include:

• Speaker Recognition - analyzing vocal behavior
• Signature - analyzing signature dynamics
• Keystroke - measuring the time spacing of typed words