Trends 2016: Biometric technology for safer cities

By Koichiro Koide

NEC has over a century of experience in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. With our rich experience and deep knowledge in both telecom network and IT technologies, we have seen a continued demand for our carrier network business in India. Statistics have shown that India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market and has registered strong growth in the past decade and half. Strong consumer demand has in turn created rapid growth in the Indian telecom sector, and has raised customer expectations of a better quality network experience.

The growing adoption of 4G and beyond mobile wireless services, is challenging the mobile service providers with the need for rapidly deploying high speed, flexible, scalable and highly reliable backhaul with CAPEX and OPEX optimized for ensuring least TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and network performance. NEC has been in the forefront of developing and providing wireless backhaul solutions through NEC's PASOLINK series of Microwave Radios, for service providers. In this regard, we will leverage on our global capabilities and resources to provide latest technology and services to telecom operators to continuously contribute towards supporting the infrastructure of telecommunications business in India.

Most recently, the Indian government has been promoting its urban transformation, putting great emphasis on creating smart cities and security. Ensuring and maintaining safety and security of a nation is crucial for citizens, as well as to attract business growth and investment opportunities to boost the economy. As one of the first companies to promote the Smart City concept, NEC believes that ICT is crucial to create a sustainable and secure society. We created our motto – We Make Cities Safer – to reflect our commitment to help cities respond to challenges that arise during the development of urban and industrial infrastructure.

Biometric recognition technologies such as fingerprint and face recognition will serve an important role in providing services that are highly secure and convenient.

NEC's biometric technology is used in 40 countries worldwide for fighting crime, preventing fraud and improving public safety. NEC's face recognition technology is independently recognized as among fastest and most accurate facial matching software, according to latest tests done by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In India, NEC has already deployed advanced Face Recognition System in Surat Safe City for Surat Police, Lemon Tree Premier, and at the Delhi Airport. These solutions empower security teams to prevent crime by offering real-time blacklist and white-list management using highly intelligent live CCTV feed analysis. Furthermore, we are also working with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to provide comprehensive safety and security solutions in the city of Tirupati.

NEC’s Face Recognition System is also widely used in public transportation networks for security surveillance where the software is able to capture CCTV or archived footage in real time, assess, match and allow organisations to react accordingly to the outcome of the success of the facial match. These outcomes or actions can be configured to cross-check against databases for a positive or negative match to enable quick response to threats.

A smart, connected urban mobility can improve quality of life for city dwellers. An efficient and reliable public transport system will support the growth of a city, creating a more sustainable and liveable society. Security and safety are two key areas that concern authorities, especially with the daily movement of thousands of passengers and vehicles throughout the network.

NEC’s suite of smart transportation solutions such as traffic monitoring and bus fleet management enhances the efficiency of the operator, making the rides safer and more efficient for passengers and drivers.

In an increasingly online and borderless world, governments and enterprises face significant and difficult challenges in determining appropriate security measures: how to protect information resources from increasingly advanced and sophisticated cyber attack happening 24/7, and how to minimize damage during security breaches.

NEC’s partnership with INTERPOL is a recognition in the field of cyber security. Leveraging on our years of knowledge and technologies cultivated over 20 years together with know-how obtained through operation of the Cyber Security Solution, we have been making efforts in researching new security applications to serve governments and enterprises.

(The author, Koichiro KOIDE, is MD, NEC India)