NEC announced today the commercial launch of the world’s first device to simultaneously acquire fingerprint and finger vein characteristics without physical contact. The HS100-10′s simultaneous acquisition of both fingerprint and finger vein information makes it particularly difficult for impostors to deceive the authentication system using it. Moreover, the system’s contactless sensor is robust against the characteristics of fingers that are exceedingly dry or moist with exceptional accuracy, which is difficult for conventional contact-based fingerprint authentication devices.

The HS100-10′s USB interface allows users to connect with a PC in order to log-on to its operating system or unlock its screensaver in both a stand-alone environment and an ActiveDirectory environment. Finally worldwide shipment of the “HS100-10 Contactless Hybrid Finger Scanner” (HS100-10) is scheduled to begin in May, 2011.