The mobile device explosion within the enterprise has opened up countless new technology opportunities, but one that is just now starting to be explored is the idea of turning a mobile device into the ultimate biometric hardware. Apple's pending $356-million acquisition of biometrics hardware manufacturer AuthenTec got pundits' tongues wagging about the proposition of a new wave of mobile-enabled biometric use both inside and outside the enterprise. But a surge in enterprise mobile biometric authentication will depend on how well these controls can be managed and centralized within organization-wide identity and access management (IAM) systems.

Benefits Of A New Form Factor

With powerful processing, a growing number of built-in inputs ready to be used creatively by the right developers, and users' enthusiastic willingness to carry them to the ends of the earth, mobile devices cut through many of the long-standing obstacles to widespread biometric deployment.