When Facebook started promoting its facial recognition software, Facebookers and of course privacy activists went nuts. Now facial recognition has sparked the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is holding a workshop on Dec. 8, 2011 in Washington, DC. All this attention has caused investors to take a closer look at this industry.
Facial recognition technology is spreading fast. Already widespread in China, software that identifies people by comparing images of their faces against a database of records is now being adopted across much of the rest of. The face recognition company Cognitec is the only company worldwide that has worked exclusively on face recognition technology since its inception in 2002. Cognitec technology update brings higher accuracy and speed to Nero's MediaHome face finding feature. As long as your face is somewhere on the web, Facial Recognition Software can find it, analyze it, and store the information. A lot of industries and organizations use it, some you're probably aware of, and some you're probably not. Here are eight ways that Facial Recognition Software is being used today.
There are many big players with facial recognition as a small portion of the business including 3M (NYSE:MMM), with the Cogent BioTrust biometric logon software, and the CAFIS system which can integrate facial recognition authentication. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has the iPhoto software Faces. Last year, Apple purchased the Sweden based Polar Rose facial recognition company for $22 million. Also, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) uses PittPatt technology to allow Picasa to add name tags to pictures.Safran SA recently took over L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (OTCPK:SAFRY), one of leaders in the face recognition arena. The company provides facial biometric technology to casinos and the gaming industry. L-1 has such products as FaceEXPLORER, a mugshot booking solution, FaceIt® Argus, a security checkpoint face screening system, and the ABIS® System FaceExaminer that analyzes, searches and identifies faces of wanted subjects taken from poor quality surveillance video. Safran trades at 4.5 times earnings, and recently reported a 2.5% increase in earnings.
Facial Recognition Companies Stock
AuthenTec (NASDAQ:AUTH), a seecurity and identity management company, produces the TCEFC1 TouchChip module used with the Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System known as MORIS. The stock trades at 97 times forward earnings. Although recent earnings were negative, the company reported a 51.2% in revenues for the latest quarter.
Face Recognition Company Top
Disclosure: Author owns AAPL.
