5 Nov 2007

Because of the speed at which the 3D face readers authenticate employees even at peak hours, The Venetian Macao, the world's largest casino, has deployed 13 VisionAccess 3D Face Readers in order to authenticate 12,000 employees at the front entrance when a new shift starts.

Bioscrypt's 3D face reader is a hands-free biometric solution that authenticates users in under a second by matching the structure of the person's face against their enrolled template.  The VisionAccess readers function by shining an invisible near infrared light grid pattern on a user's face.  A camera then takes a picture of the resulting distortions in the grid pattern and makes a match against a template.  Turnstiles ensure that only one employee enters at a time, eliminating tailgating.  Solution Expert Technology, the system integrator for the face recognition and access control system for the Venetian Macao employee's entrance, developed access control software for both Chinese and English users that interfaces seamlessly with the face readers.

The casino has avoided illegal and unauthorised workers by using the face reader.  The two-way turnstiles allow the same turnstile to be used by workers both entering and exiting a casino site.  A contactless smart card, typically kept in a hip pocket, calls up a stored biometric template, which is then immediately validated as users pause in front of the reader.  Timekeeping information for the employee is instantly transmitted to a central office.  Everyone entering their back office, from employees to outside vendors, is required to use the face readers for access.

The size of The Venetian deployment demonstrates that 3D facial recognition has the ability to scale up and accommodate a large number of users without creating bottlenecks.  The Venetian Macao is the largest building in Asia and the second largest in the world.  It has a stadium that seats 15,000, 350 retail shops and 3,000 rooms.  This complete range is available from Premier Electronics Ltd.