In The Boardroom With...

Dr. Juergen Pampus
VP Sales & Marketing,
Cognitec Systems
www.cognitec.com

SecurityStockWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Juergen. Please give us an overview of your background and a brief company history of Cognitec.

Juergen Pampus: Thank you for inviting me to this interview!
I have been in the computer and software industry since nearly 30 years. Before we started Cognitec, I initiated the face recognition product development and marketing at Siemens. Since 1989, I had been a Sales and Marketing Manager at Siemens, responsible for European sales activities related to supercomputers and mainframes. Before joining Siemens, I had the same position at Control Data Corporation.

In 1995, we saw the results of a research project on face recognition by a Siemens Corporate Research lab in Princeton, NJ. Based on this research work, we started product development and could actually present the first version of our face recognition software at the CeBIT computer fair in 1996, integrated into a self-service safe deposit system. Physical access control was the first application for our software, and we won a number of customers in this early stage who added face recognition to enhance security of access to computer centers, labs etc. The core team of five people who have been the main drivers since 1995 finally founded Cognitec Systems in 2002. Today, Cognitec is a privately owned enterprise with headquarters in Dresden, Germany, and subsidiaries in the US, Brazil, and Hong Kong.

We are still focusing on face recognition technology and systems, which is why we call Cognitec ‘The face recognition company’. This focus has been our advantage in the market, as we are recognized as a technology leader, and we have strong links to sales partners and a number of large systems integrators world-wide.

SecurityStockWatch.com: May we have an overview of Cognitec’s Access Control and Border Control solutions.

Juergen Pampus: As I mentioned, physical access control was the very first application that we addressed since we started in 1995, and our first customers have been from this market segment. At the time, such solutions were quite expensive as they included CCTV cameras, rack-mounted computer hardware, cabling etc. Last year, we introduced a completely new access control device that includes cameras, embedded computer, card reader in a self-contained, easy to install appliance. This is much more cost-effective in terms of manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. |

We delivered the very first self-service border control kiosk, based on face recognition, to Australian Customs in 2002. It was called the SmartGate and received a lot of attention by governments around the world. This was before ePassports had been introduced anywhere, and the Australian Government really proved to be cutting-edge for border control. Today, we have an ISO standard for ePassports based on biometrics and a number of countries have already started to issue ePassports including digital photographs. Border control solutions based on facial verification are the next step for many countries. Our offering includes software components for the facial matching part that we provide to systems integrators, but also customer-specific complete hardware/software solutions. I am sure that border control will be a very important market segment for us in the near future.

SecurityStockWatch.com: What are the key markets for Cognitec solutions at this time and what are the market drivers?

Juergen Pampus: The key vertical markets for Cognitec today are national and state governments as well as law enforcement agencies. Our face recognition technology has proven to be a very valuable tool for various organizations who maintain large databases of passport-style photographs. For example, several DMV’s in the US are already using our software to compare photographs on drivers’ license applications against their photo database, in order to find fraudulent attempts to apply for a license under different names. We have customers like the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who apply the same process during passport issuance; the German Government does the same for visa issuance.

The same application is also used by various law enforcement customers in order to identify suspects on video footings or photographs, e.g. from ATM’s. It is pretty much the same idea as identifying suspects with fingerprints, but in many cases you have images but no fingerprints available.
One of the most promising applications for the same vertical market is video surveillance with automatic face recognition. We see a huge demand for this, to be used in airports and train stations, sports stadiums and shopping malls, as well as in certain public areas. As you can imagine, identifying a person ‘in the crowd’ is the most challenging scenario for face recognition technology, but in fact, face recognition is the only biometric technology that can achieve this task. We have invested heavily into this application field during the last 12 months, and now have a tool that is ready to be used in the field; several successful trial installations have shown that.

SecurityStockWatch.com: Congratulations on the recent “win” with the Government of Estonia for face recognition software. What can you tell us about this project?

Juergen Pampus: This project that we are implementing with IBM Estonia is to establish a large ID Management system for the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is an example how a government can take advantage of state-of-the-art face recognition technology in several use cases, in order to enable effective and objective person identification as well as the detection of misused identities. One example for such use cases is ePassport issuance.

SecurityStockWatch.com: Are there one or two additional success stories in the Enterprise and Government markets you’d like to mention?

Juergen Pampus: A good example of the value that our face recognition technology offers to customers is the drivers’ license market. Our main partner Digimarc has delivered several fraud detection systems including our software to DMV’s in the US. Actually, Digimarc supports 2/3 of the North American States using Cognitec facial recognition biometrics to verify driver license applicant identity. The New York Times and other media have recently highlighted success that Massachusetts and other States have had in stopping driver license fraud. The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) recently used the Digimarc solution to nab a suspect on “America’s Most Wanted" criminal list.

SecurityStockWatch.com: We understand that you will be speaking at the I-Pira Biometrics Series. May we have an overview of the key subjects you’ll be addressing?

Juergen Pampus: There will be half a day of presentations focusing on facial recognition, and I am happy to give the introductory speech for that session. I will look into some of the most recent application fields and the big progress made on face recognition technology development during the past year. There will also be presentations by several of our partners who have developed very exciting new applications based on our software.

SecurityStockWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today Juergen. Are there any other subjects you’d like to discuss?

Juergen Pampus: Well, thank you very much for your interest! Let me just add that I think we are currently in a very exciting stage with the biometric industry. Business has really grown substantially since three or four years, and we are still at the starting point for many new application fields. A particularly fast growing demand has been observed for face recognition technology as the use of digital still cameras and video cameras has accelerated, in security as well as convenience and private applications. ePassports, border control, and video surveillance have been areas where the use of biometrics and specifically face recognition has become much more accepted if not standard. Our customers, our partners, and we at Cognitec have a lot of new use cases in mind that will keep us busy for the future!