Daon, a global provider of identity assurance software and
services, announced today that its software is being used to power a
new national identification program in the State of Qatar. The new
biometric system which replaces an existing program enrolled its first
citizen last week and was opened to the public on Sunday, October 7,
with all national ID cards issued since that date utilizing the Daon
solution.
Qatar is one of many nations whose citizens are issued a national
ID card, which serves as easy and secure proof of identity and
residency and also provides access to various services and benefits.
With the increasing risk of identity theft and the growing need to
better manage citizen security, the Government of Qatar sought to
increase the level of trust in the identity of individuals who present
these ID cards. The addition of biometric identifiers on the ID cards
was selected to provide that additional level of trust.
Following a rigorous selection process to identify a solution
provider, Daon was selected in partnership with local integrators
ProtechT and QPGI, to provide the National Biometric Infrastructure
for the Qatar National Identification Project. Daon provides the core
biometric infrastructure product -- DaonEngine(TM) -- and finger, face
and iris biometric snap-in interfaces to leading biometric matching
algorithms. As part of the project, Daon is integrating with a number
of other technology partners.
"Daon was selected to be part of our team because of their
unrivalled industry expertise in major biometric programs worldwide in
addition to their expert resources and innovative products and
technology," commented Antoine Chamieh of ProtechT. "Daon are a highly
professional and committed partner of ours and have gone the extra
mile in helping to ensure program success."
"This is a major step forward for the State of Qatar Ministry of
Interior in the implementation of our e-Security Strategy." commented
Col. Saleh Alkubaisi, Director of Information System Department,
Ministry of Interior, Qatar. He continued, "Our vision is to build a
biometric database and public-key infrastructure (PK)I for all people
living in the state of Qatar in addition to the biographic database we
have built over the last few years. This vision is becoming a reality
and our next step is to provide services using biometric data in
addition to the PKI."
Commenting on the launch, Tom Grissen, Daon's CEO said, "This
infrastructure will support almost 1 million people in using their
biometrics to authenticate themselves to a range of biometrically
enable applications. We are pleased to add Qatar to the growing list
of countries who have selected Daon products for an end-to-end
security scheme based on the principle of one system, multiple
missions."
About ProtechT
ProtechT is a Middle-East based IT Security Solutions and Services
integrator established to assist organizations in the success of their
e-transformation by aggregating secure IT Solutions covering: Network
Security, Biometric Identification Systems, Smart Cards, Digital
Signatures, Encryption and BS7799 Consulting. For more
information please visit www.protecht-me.com
About Daon
Daon is a leading provider of identity assurance software products
focused on meeting the needs of governments and commercial
organizations worldwide. Daon supports customers and system
integrators in building enterprise solutions requiring the highest
level of security, performance, scalability, reliability and privacy.
The DaonApplicationSuite provides a powerful tool for faster
development of scalable, robust and secure identity registration and
vetting solutions. Daon's multi-modal authentication infrastructure,
DaonEngine, integrates seamlessly with IT platforms and applications
and manages the identity life-cycle of small and large populations.
Daon's offices are located in Washington DC, Canberra, London and
Dublin. For further information please visit www.daon.com.
