Biometric spending to double in five years

Public and private spending on biometrics technologies will more
than double to $7.3 billion globally by 2013, up from $3 billion in
2008, according to London research firm ABI Research.

Biometrics received a boost from antiterrorism efforts following
the 2001 terrorist attacks, but it has taken several years to gain
momentum. Underpinning growth in the next several years is
continued interest in homeland security as well as development of
multimodal and interoperable technologies, ABI said in a news
release.

"Over the next five years, the effort to create standards for
biometrics technologies will be rewarded with a significant growth
in biometrics system adoption," said Jonathan Collins, principal
analyst at ABI.

Fingerprints will continue to dominate, but there also is growth
in face, iris, hand and speech recognition systems, he said.