The Imprimerie Nationale Group has deployed eGates for border control at Lyon Saint-ExupÉry Airport, France.The rollout is part of the national Fast Pass through the External Borders (Passage Rapide aux Frontières ExtÉrieure – PARAFE). Developed by engineers from Thales' Identity & Biometric Division, which was recently acquired by Imprimerie Nationale Group, the eGates speed up border identity checks.The pilot is based on a design that includes a series of five gates with fingerprint-based biometric recognition in the border control area. According to Imprimerie Nationale Group, the system supports fingerprint recognition and will also support face recognition in the near future. It is initially open to passengers holding a French or German biometric passport and will gradually be extended to other EU passengers. The installation at Lyon airport enables five passengers to be controlled at the same time by a single border control official compared with the standard one officer per passenger. During the eGate border control process, the traveller:· Presents their passport to the document reader at the gate entrance· Goes through the gate after the entrance door opens· Presents a finger to the fingerprint reader · Exits the gate through the exit door after the fingerprint has been authenticated by the system. "The launch of these eGates will reinforce border security and provide better services to Saint-ExupÉry Airport passengers," says Didier Trutt, CEO, Imprimerie Nationale Group. "We thank the airport authorities for their confidence in the technologies and expertise of our new Biometric Identity Solutions branch and for their choice of these user-friendly and secure systems for automated identity control."Thales' Identity & Biometric Division became part of Imprimerie Nationale Group on 9 May 2017.
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