Chesterfield -Va.- County Government Selects HandReaders over Competing Biometrics; Other Biometrics Cannot Match Hand Geometry's Reliability and Ease of Use.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2003

IR Recognition Systems, the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand's (IR) Security & Safety Group's Electronic Access Control Division (EACD), today announced that Chesterfield County (Va.) has implemented the company's HandReader to provide off-hours access at the county's main administration building. HandReaders positively authenticate users by the shape and size of their hands, not their keys, cards or codes.

"We needed a positive identifier for people carrying out critical county functions at off-hour times," explains Dennis Lacey, Chesterfield County security coordinator who spent 20 years with the Secret Service and 17 years with the Department of Defense. "Biometrics is the only way you can positively identify who comes into a building. At the same time, we need to assure that all those authorized to get into the building can do so, not be blocked because their biometrics aren't being read. These false rejections can become a major reliability problem. We feel that fingerprint technology relies on too small of an area to avoid the problems of false rejects. Meanwhile, hand geometry takes its data points from an entire hand. From a technology standpoint, it's simply much easier to consistently get a good image from a big hand rather than a small finger.

"We also felt that there would be too much employee resistance to iris/retinal scan," Lacey adds. "People are uncomfortable putting their eye near a device and positioning themselves for the reader is just too time-consuming."

According to Lacey, the county's existing access control system for the 5-story main administration building, linked to a three-story and two-story wing and police administration building, is comprised of mechanical keys and the HandReader.

"It's too expensive and time-consuming to replace missing keys," Lacey emphasizes. "We often have to search for people who leave our employment to get our keys back since the key represents a part of their career. We're looking at adding more HandReaders to other doors of this building as well as other buildings. We've actually had comments from the highest levels of county administration to do so."

Chesterfield County asked Dominion Lock (Mechanicsville, Va.), their integrator, to create a custom housing for the HandReader to protect it from the environmental elements as well as provide a shelf for packages.

"We can have some pretty nasty weather along the James River," Lacey reports. "We get into the teens during the winter and get both snow and ice. In the summers, we can experience strong downpours.

"I would not hesitate to recommend HandReaders for positive identification," says Lacey.

Dominion Lock's Al Tucker agrees. "I wouldn't hesitate to install them," he states.

About IR Recognition Systems

With over 70,000 hand geometry units throughout the world reading millions of hands each day, IR Recognition Systems, founded in 1986, is the pioneer of hand recognition technology used in access control, time and attendance and identification applications. The company is the world sales leader of biometric verification devices and serves an international clientele from its headquarters in Campbell, Calif. The hand geometry website is www.handreader.com. Phone is 408/341-4100. Recognition Systems is the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand Corporation's Security & Safety Group's Electronic Access Control Division. The Ingersoll-Rand website is www.irco.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For a downloadable, high-resolution photograph of the HandReader at Chesterfield County, go to www.brighamscully.com and click Photographs/IR Recognition Systems.