PeopleKey CEO Frank Bruce was recently interviewed by FindBiometrics.com, a leading industry news source.  We've posted the interview below in its entirety.

FB

Can you please provide our readers with a brief background of the company?

PeopleKey

PeopleKey was established in Sydney, Australia in 1999.  We were originally a value-added reseller of biometric solutions from Identix Incorporated (now L-1 Identity Solutions).  When Identix made plans to discontinue their time & attendance/access control product lines in 2003, we began manufacturing our own hardware solutions and licensing software from Identix.  Since that time, PeopleKey has made significant innovations in both hardware and software.  Today we are one of the leading high-quality providers of biometric attendance and access control solutions in the market.  

FB

Can you please tell us about your product line-up?

PeopleKey 

PeopleKey employs a modular approach to hardware and software design.  Our primary hardware product is the V70i fingerprint reader.  The V70i boasts an US Goverment-certified fingerprint matching algorithm, an extremely efficient processor, and a 500dpi scratch proof sensor.  The V70i can be equipped with internal Mifare or iClass card readers, and its industry-leading memory capacity is expandable via USB flash drive.  The device offers multiple connectivity options, including Power Over Ethernet and even TOSIM wireless mesh network technology.  Our modular approach ensures that customers only pay for the options that they need, and also makes our products very easy to upgrade in the field.  

Fingerlan, our software platform, is similarly designed.  Fingerlan allows multiple V70i units to work together in a network for access control and/or attendance management functions.  PeopleKey offers optional plug-ins to Fingerlan for users who need more advanced features for attendance management.  Look for additional product offerings from PeopleKey in late 2009, as we continue to expand into new geographic and vertical markets.

FB

Are there certain vertical markets that you are focusing on such as retail, hospitality or airlines?

PeopleKey

Much of our success in the Australian market has come from our dominance of the domestic time & attendance market.  We provide time & attendance solutions for Woolworths supermarkets for instance, who have over 120,000 staff logging in through PeopleKey scanners each day.  We also provide attendance solutions to notable hotels such as Hyatt, Intercontinental and Four Seasons, and we developed a very successful real-time attendance monitoring solution for Qantas Airlines that has received a lot of attention.  

As we continue to expand internationally, we are seeing biometric access control slightly overshadow time & attendance in terms of market demand, as government and commercial entities look to biometrics for increased security. We anticipate that this trend will continue well beyond 2009.

FB

Please elaborate on a recent deployment for us.

PeopleKey

Qantas Airways have relied on PeopleKey biometric solutions for over six years and recently wanted to expand the functionality of their systems, as well as extend product support to 24 by 7. PeopleKey provided the system customizations needed to reach the performance goals required in Qantas' highly competitive industry.

PeopleKey has also been tasked recently to design and build a biometric access control system for large trucks. This is for a prominent Australian company that is responsible for the movement and auditing of highly dangerous material throughout Australia.

FB

You recently opened an office in North America. What prompted your expansion and what other regions is PeopleKey active in?

PeopleKey 

We opened a small office in the US in August as part of our international expansion strategy. The new office is responsible for international marketing and business development. Because PeopleKey supports a partner network that spans Asia, EMEA and the Americas, our dual office approach allows us to serve customers around the globe with little or no delay due to time zones.

FB

Has this been a good year for the company?

PeopleKey 

It's been an exciting year for PeopleKey. We've continued to expand our business with several key domestic customers throughout the year. We also launched a new international partner program in August, and are rapidly growing our business overseas. Despite the global economic slowdown, we have expanded into several new markets in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. We're looking forward to continued growth throughout 2009.