Daon has confirmed it is providing software to power a national automated border management system, in what is claimed to be one of the most advanced and largest biometric systems in the world when it is fully deployed by the end of 2007.

The system is being established to prevent terrorism, illegal immigration and other crimes at the border. Fingerprints and facial images will be requested from travellers aged 16 years and over entering the country. Daon says its identity management system will provide the centralised and client biometric infrastructure for the border clearance and e-gate system, with DaonEngine serving as the platform and additional Daon software being used at all immigration workstations and ports of entry.

A self-service kiosk will be used to authenticate travellers against biometric credentials on their ePassports and foreign travellers will also be screened against a fingerprint and facial watch-list database.

Although the country involved has not been named, Ireland’s Sunday Tribune has reported that Daon is involved in ‘a major deal with the ministry of justice of a major Asian economy’, and Hong Kong’s Standard newspaper has recently reported on the rollout of fingerprints and face biometrics at Japan’s borders.

Tom Grissen, CEO of Daon, says: “We are pleased to add one of the world’s largest economies to a growing list of countries who rely on Daon technology for securing their borders and protecting their citizens.

Daon’s software has already been used in identity assurance programmes in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.