The Biometric Consortium (BC) serves as a focal point for research, development, testing, evaluation, and application of biometric-based personal identification/verification systems. It currently has over 800 members from private industry, federal, state, and local governments, and academia. Over 60 different federal agencies are represented in the consortium. Fifty percent of the members are from industry.
The BC fosters cooperation between industry and users in biometrics and related technologies. A benefit of membership in the organization is the sharing of information about biometric technologies among the members, private industry, and the general public. This is done through conferences, meetings and focused workshops; by co-sponsoring activities related to the research, evaluation, and standardization of biometrics technologies; through a member's electronic discussion group; and through the Biometric Consortium's web site on the Internet.
The Biometric Consortium is chaired by Jeffrey S. Dunn, the Technical Director of the Secure Network Technology Office, U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and Fernando L. Podio from the Convergent Information Systems Division in the Information Technology Laboratory of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST/ITL). They can be emailed at Dunn@biometrics.org and Podio@biometrics.org.
Information on the Biometric Consortium activities and on how to join the BC can also be obtained at the BC web site (http://www.biometrics.org), by sending an email to info@biometrics.org, or by calling the BC toll free number at 1-866-BIOMETRICS (1-866-246-6387).
The Biometric Consortium web site contains profuse information on biometrics technologies, research results, federal & state applications, and other topics. With over 180,000 – 200,000 hits per month, it is one of the most used reference sources on biometrics.
There is no charge to join the
BC. You may join the BC by applying for a subscription to the BC Electronic
Discussion Group (LISTSERV). This is a free electronic mailing list for
sharing discussions about all things biometric and related technologies,
ranging from research questions to meeting announcements.
BC Support to Users, Industry and the Entire Community
The growth of biometrics and related technologies in the marketplace is placing greater demand on biometric system developers, researchers and users to work together to address a number of issues including privacy, research, testing and evaluation, infrastructure, and standards developments. The Biometric Consortium is providing a forum to facilitate this work.
NIST/ITL and NSA collaborate in fostering and conducting research in biometrics technologies and related authentication technologies to assist users and the industries in developing new technology capabilities, testing methodologies, and standards. These efforts are in support of information security, electronic commerce and other identification, and authentication applications.
Recent NIST/ITL and NSA co-sponsored activities and events:
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NIST & BC Biometric Interoperability, Performance, and Assurance Working Group
Web site: http://www.nist.gov/bcwg -
Common Biometric Exchange Format (CBEFF) development
Web site: http:// www.nist.gov/cbeff -
NIST research on interoperability, data interchange, evaluation and standardization of biometrics
Advisory role to other government agencies:-
DoD's Biometric Management Office
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GSA's FTS Center for Smart Card Solutions
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Conferences, Standards meetings and Technical Workshops:
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Annual conferences
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BioAPI Users' and Developers' Seminar (also co-sponsored by the BioAPI Consortium)
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BioAPI and CBEFF meetings
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Notes:
(1) CBEFF has been developed in coordination with industry consortiums (BioAPI Consortium and TeleTrusT) and a standards development group (ANSI/ASC X9F4 Working Group). CBEFF is described in detail in NISTIR 6529 available at the CBEFF web site. The International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) is the Registration Authority for CBEFF format owner and format type values for organizations and vendors that require them: www.ibia.org/formats.htm.
(2)
The Biometric Interoperability, Performance, and Assurance Working Group supports
advancement of
technically efficient and compatible biometric technology
solutions on a national and international basis.
It consists of organizations
representing
biometric vendors, system developers,
information assurance organizations, commercial end users,
universities, Government agencies, National Labs and industry organizations.
The Working Group is currently developing a simple
testing
methodology to determine the performance of biometric systems,
addressing issues on biometric assurance and developing a
CBEFF-compliant smart card
format.