London, December 10,
2002, -- SchlumbergerSema,
a business unit of Schlumberger Limited, announced
that it has provided systems integration and
the equipment for a demonstrator in support of
the Home Office entitlement card consultation
process. This is an initiative of the Home Office
and the UK Passport Service (UKPS) to assess
the attitudes and acceptability of the public
towards the use of biometrics in an entitlement
card scheme, currently the subject of a public
consultation.
During a six-week period, passport applicants at
Globe House and post office customers at Knightsbridge
post office were invited to take part in a demonstration
of biometric enrolment. SchlumbergerSema was responsible
for provision of the e-gate Cryptoflex* 32 K smart
cards. These smart cards store personal data and
an iris pattern on a chip.
The first stage of the demonstration was iris registration.
The participant’s iris was photographed four
times by an iris scanner, which transformed the photographs
into encoded data to be stored on to a smart card
with the participant’s name. Iris registration
takes between two and three minutes and could take
place when applicants apply for an entitlement card.
The second stage, which takes less than 30 seconds,
was iris recognition. The participant’s iris
was photographed and his or her smart card inserted
into a smart card reader. If the encoded data from
the smart card matched that of the photographed iris,
then the individual’s identity was confirmed.
At the end of the demonstration, each participant
was asked questions to gauge their reaction and given
the smart card containing their iris image and personal
details to take away with them.
The entitlement card consultation proposals include
using photo-card driving licences and passport cards
as the basis of the scheme for people resident in
the UK. Part of the consultation asks what the public
thinks of the use of biometrics and the confirmation
of a person’s unique identity against a national
database.
SchlumbergerSema currently supports the UK Passport
Services administrative IT infrastructure, as well
as providing consulting, systems integration and
managed services.
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About SchlumbergerSema
SchlumbergerSema is one of two business segments of Schlumberger Limited, a
global technology services company. With more than 30,000 employees serving
customers in 65 countries, SchlumbergerSema aggregates IT consulting, systems
integration, managed services and related products to the oil and gas, telecommunications,
energy and utilities, finance, transport and public sector markets. Leveraging
the Schlumberger DeXa* Suite of Services, it also provides IP network connectivity,
information security solutions, distributed computing support services and
data center hosting services. In 2002, Schlumberger revenues were $13.5 billion.
For more information, visit www.slb.com.
*Mark of Schlumberger
For further information contact:
Caroline Crouch / Katherine Elmore-Jones
SchlumbergerSema Herald Communications
Tel: 020 7830 4233 Tel: 020 7340 6324
Email: ccrouch@slb.com / kelmore-jones@heraldcommunications.com
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