FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif./HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc. announced that it has teamed up with T&W Operations, Inc. to develop the Kidtrack system. The Kidtrack system employs Fujitsu’s PalmEntry Physical Access Control system installed in school buses to track the location of children during transit before and after school.
The PalmEntry system is a secure, contactless, biometric access control solution that positively authenticates the identity of an individual. The public unveiling of the Kidtrack system will be March 19, 2013, at the Ohio Association for Pupil Transportation Conference and Trade Show in Dublin, OH.
“We looked at other methods of verifying student location and safety, but chose the Fujitsu PalmEntry system due to its high level of accuracy and ease of use in a bus environment,” says Beau Bowden, president, T&W Operations, Inc. “Over the next 12 months we plan on demonstrating the solution at a number of regional and national education conferences.”
The PalmEntry system relies on Fujitsu’s award-winning PalmSecure(r) biometric technology. The Fujitsu PalmSecure biometric palm vein sensors use a near-infrared light to capture a user’s palm vein pattern, generating a unique biometric template that is matched against the palm vein patterns of pre-registered users. Unlike other readers, the PalmSecure device does not come into contact with the skin, making it extremely hygienic, non-intrusive and unrestricted by external factors such as skin types and conditions. Registration for the PalmEntry system takes less than one minute and authentication takes less than one second.
In 2006, Huntsville, AL suffered a tragic accident, when a school bus carrying 40 local students fell off a portion of elevated highway. School administrators and parents alike struggled during the rescue with not knowing which students had been affected. With the Kidtrack system the school system would have known immediately who was in danger and parents and guardians could have been notified much sooner. This system offers peace of mind to school administrators as well as potentially life-saving information in the case of an emergency. The Kidtrack system is unique in that while it is a cloud-based system, it also locally stores tracking data on the bus itself.
“We are proud that T&W Operations, Inc., has chosen the Fujitsu PalmEntry access control system as one of the key components in the Kidtrack system,” according to Randy Fox, senior director, currency handling and identification product solutions, Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc. “The PalmEntry solution provides a high level of flexibility in the Kidtrack system, while ensuring security and privacy for the students. Parents and school administrators alike will have relevant and timely information when needed.”
Fujitsu’s family of biometric solutions, PalmSecure, PalmSecure for SSO (single sign-on) and PalmEntry Physical Access Control, all utilize the award winning technology. The palm vein device can only recognize the pattern if the blood is actively flowing within the individual’s veins, which means that forgery is virtually impossible. This advanced, vascular pattern recognition technology not only provides highly reliable authentication with low false accept and reject rates, but also generates fast and easy enrollment.
About Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc.
Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc. brings innovative technology from Japan and, with its partners, develops powerful front-end solutions that shape how society interacts with big data. Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., is headquartered at 27121 Towne Centre Drive, Suite #100, Foothill Ranch, CA 92610, USA. For more information about Fujitsu products and services, visit www.fujitsufrontechna.com. For more information on Fujitsu Frontech North America Inc., or biometric security in particular, visit http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/biometrics/palm-vein.
About T&W Operations, Inc.
T&W Operations, Inc. is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVO) Small Business based in Huntsville, Ala., with locations across the United States. T&W provides logistics, information technology and management services to government and commercial customers.
