At CeBIT 2007, Siemens presents its complete biometric portfolio and, together with Cherry, the newest version of the “Siemens ID Mouse pro3″.

Siemens ID Mouse pro3 gives users secure and convenient PC access via fingerprint and eliminates the need for a password at logon. Cherry provides the hardware while the Siemens Biometrics Center developed both the biometric algorithms and software solutions that allow the biometric data from different users to be stored and centrally managed at one location. The result is less time spent and lower costs compared to managing constantly changing passwords.

“The product provides optimal protection of company data, creates a fast return on investment and, moreover, is convenient for the user”, explains Gerd Hribernig, head of the Biometrics Center of Siemens IT Solutions and Services. The fingerprint is the most prevalent biometric feature used today: With 44 percent, fingerprint recognition constitutes the majority of biometric applications, now that the technology is fully-developed and accepted by users. This is why Siemens also frequently integrates the biometric mouse and related software in its security solutions – all 800 employees at the Centre Hospitalier du Nord in Luxembourg, for instance, already use the technology to logon to their computers via fingerprint.

In order to use the mouse, the customer performs a one-time registration by placing his index finger on the integrated fingerprint sensor of the mouse. For subsequent logons, ending the screensaver or access to specially protected data, the user only needs to tap the sensor and is logged on in less than a second. Passwords and PIN numbers are eliminated. Siemens IT Solutions and Service developed both the algorithm that encrypts and stores the fingerprint and the software that allows central management of all of the fingerprint files and verification of access authorizations.