Biometric access control to see double-digit growth

LONDON—The global and North American markets for biometric access control systems will see double-digit growth rates from 2015 to 2019, according to a recent Technavio report.

“[There is] growing demand for cloud-based biometric services because of various advantages, such as security, round-the-cloud monitoring and reliability,” Amrita Choudhury, Technavio research analyst, told Security Systems News.

Technavio estimated North America's biometric access control market value at about $2 billion in 2014, according to Choudhury. This market will rise at a CAGR of 16.85 percent in the forecast period, she said, reaching $4.37 billion by 2019.

North America had the largest market share in 2014, at 37 percent, Choudury said. The market will have a slight drop to make up about 35 percent of the market in 2019, she said.

Europe held the second largest share with about 28 percent of the market in 2014, according to Choudhury, and the APAC region comprised around 27 percent at that time.

The global biometric access control market will be close to $12.4 billion by 2019, up from its $5.3 billion value in 2014, Choudhury said. The market will grow at an 18.39 percent CAGR from 2015 to 2019.

Globally, government has the most biometric access control in the current market, 52 percent in 2014. The banking and finance sector makes up 16 percent of the market, followed by transportation at 13 percent and healthcare around 12 percent.

“The healthcare and the transportation [applications] will increase more, but not very much—around 2 to 3 percent by 2019,” Choudhury said.

The report examined several biometric categories; fingerprint, facial, voice, iris and “other”—which includes vein and gait recognition—Choudhury said. Fingerprint is the most common biometric in North America currently, but the usage of facial and voice technologies will rise through 2019.

Multi-modal technologies that combine different biometrics, or biometrics with other access control technologies like PINs or passwords—will be a trend across this time period, Choudhury said. Smartcards will also start containing biometric information.

“We see more fingerprint-based contactless technology to be taking over [by 2019],” Choudhury said, contactless readers use 3-D scans of fingerprints or palms. Mobile biometrics, predominantly using facial and iris recognition, are another trend in this market.

High costs of ownership and a high rate of errors are inhibitors for the market. There are also concerns about the privacy of biometric information and concerns about hygiene with a single sensor being touched by many users that pose challenges for the market, according to Choudhury.

3M Cogent, HID Global, M2SYS, NEC, and Safran are key biometric vendors in the market, Choudhury said.