Biometric-enabled ATMs could be doling out cash to Australian bank customers within a year following the launch of technology that promises to reduce the expense of converting existing ATM security infrastructure.

The use of biometric technology - the analysis of certain unique body -signatures", such as fingerprint and retina scanning - for ATM security purposes, has long been bandied about as a viable alternative to personal identification numbers (PINs). But the prohibitive expense associated with deploying a brand new fleet of biometrically-secure ATMs has seen many banks adopt a wait-and-see approach.

-I feel that [biometric ATMs in Australia] could fly a lot sooner than we anticipate," said Ho Chang, CEO and president of security vendor BioID, which is part-owned by Biodata. -We have been approached by a couple of [Australian] ATM makers who have expressed interest in integrating our technology into their existing ATMs."

Biodata yesterday launched BioID 3.0 onto the Australian market , a product that uses face, voice and lip-movement recognition for identification and authorisation purposes. The software allows this combination of recognition measures to take place using just a standard Web camera and microphone, alleviating the need for costly specialised scanning technology.

-The biggest concerns banks and ATM makers have is how to roll out biometric technology. They don't want to replace the technology in current systems because that would be too expensive," Chang said. -We see new ATMs going up every year and it's just a matter of time until they think about replacing old ones with new technology and they're starting to think about the new types of [security] infrastructure they want to see."

-They have to be very careful with what they plan. If you're talking about hardware dependent biometrics, such as fingerprint and retina scanning, then you have to install specific hardware. Whereas with our technology, it's just a matter of installing a regular camera, which is relatively cheap."

Chang said Biodata has been working closely with personal privacy groups around the world to reassure users of the non-invasive nature of BioID 3.0. Privacy advocates are more likely to back a solution where users' faces are merely photographed and their voices recorded for verification, rather than having personal details - such as fingerprint or iris scans - available for use by non-authorised third parties.

-Our technology has been quite well received in terms of privacy protection, because the user doesn't have to give away anything. You have to actually participate and cooperate in order to be recognised, whereas fingerprint scanning means your fingerprint can be used and recognised without you actually being there."

There are already -quite a few installations" of biometric-enabled ATMs in the US and Europe, with fingerprint and iris recognition security measures favoured over the more expensive retina scanning option, according to Chang.

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