Fingerprint Authentication Unveiled For WLANs

Silex Technology America said Monday it has released a biometric system that requires a fingerprint swipe before a user can access an enterprise wireless LAN.

The company said that its Bio-NetGuard product is aimed at protecting corporate wireless networks from intrusions.

"Bio-NetGuard takes the concern out of controlling a Wi-Fi local area network by fully containing it through a biometric authentication device that works with any access point," Gary Bradt, the vice president of the company's biometrics division, said in a statement.

To gain access to the network, users swipes their finger across a sensor connected to their desktop or notebook computers or PDAs, the company said. The vendor claimed that the system works on any 802.11a/b/g network that uses Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-compliant ) access points. That includes access points from vendors such as Cisco, Netgear and D-Link.

The company said that the system supports as many as 500 users. The system is currently available, but the company provided no pricing information.