Biometrics should be booming. Technology is available today to identify a person by a fingerprint, eye scan, face or handprint, or voice pattern. And the increased emphasis on security in the wake of terrorist attacks, identity thefts, and computer crackers should be fueling huge growth in the sales of biometric technology.

But that hasn't happened--yet. A few businesses and government agencies are testing or have deployed biometrics. Skeptics, however, say the technology is still too expensive, isn't foolproof, can be hard to integrate with other systems, and requires changes in the way people work.

That may explain why interest in biometrics isn't growing as fast as many expected. In fact, only 9% of 300 business-technology executives surveyed for the InformationWeek Research Priorities 1Q 2003 study say biometric deployment is a key business priority, down from 12% in the same quarter of 2002.

Interest probably won't start growing until biometric systems overcome some problems. Researchers in Japan last year demonstrated they could fool fingerprint scanners with fake fingers made from readily available materials. And cost is still an issue. A fingerprint scanner can cost $100, and more sophisticated hand-geometry or eyeball scanners cost a lot more. Putting one on every door leading into a building or every PC on a network can be very expensive.

Still, those who've installed biometric systems say they've proven their worth, and analysts believe the technology eventually will achieve widespread deployment to control access to buildings and computer systems and networks and reduce dependency on passwords. While sales of biometric technology only reached $93.4 million in 2001, research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts the market will hit $2.1 billion by 2006, with the growth coming mostly from government and law enforcement, financial services, and health care.

George Kings is a big fan of biometrics. The VP for information services at the Los Angeles Firemen's Credit Union says critics are wrong when they call biometrics too expensive and cumbersome. The credit union last summer spent $40,000 on a fingerprint-scanning system that uses SAFaccess authentication-management software from biometric security vendor SAFlink, eTrust Single Sign-On software from Computer Associates, and fingerprint sensors from Lifeview.

As a result, about 90 employees no longer have to remember up to 10 passwords to access networks and applications. "We made it really simple," he says. "Each of the employees just touches the finger reader pad at each station and they're in."

The main problem: Fingerprint scanners sometimes can't scan if a finger is too dry. Other than that, Kings calls the system "reliable and easy" and says it's "a lot more secure than passwords."

It also has eliminated a lot of calls to the help desk for password resets, which analysts say can cost from $50 to $100 a call.