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The Biometric Consortium (BC) serves as a focal point for
research, development, testing, evaluation, and application of
biometric-based personal identification/verification systems.
It currently has over 800 members from private industry, federal,
state, and local governments, and academia. Over 60 different
federal agencies are represented in the consortium. Fifty percent
of the members are from industry.
The BC fosters cooperation between industry and users in biometrics
and related technologies. A benefit of membership in the organization
is the sharing of information about biometric technologies among
the members, private industry, and the general public. This is
done through conferences, meetings and focused workshops; by
co-sponsoring activities related to the research, evaluation,
and standardization of biometrics technologies; through a member's
electronic discussion group; and through the
Biometric Consortium's web site on the Internet.
The Biometric Consortium is chaired by Jeffrey S. Dunn, the Technical
Director of the Secure Network Technology Office, U.S. National
Security Agency (NSA), and Fernando L. Podio from the Convergent
Information Systems Division in the Information Technology Laboratory
of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST/ITL).
They can be emailed at Dunn@biometrics.org
and Podio@biometrics.org.
Information on the Biometric Consortium activities and on how
to join the BC can also be obtained at the BC web site, by sending
an email to info@biometrics.org,
or by calling the BC toll free number at 1-866-BIOMETRICS (1-866-246-6387).
There is no charge to join the Biometric Consortium.
You may join the BC by applying for a subscription to the BC Electronic
Discussion Group (LISTSERV). This is a free electronic mailing
list for sharing discussions about all things biometric and related
technologies, ranging from research questions to meeting announcements.
The Biometric Consortium web site contains profuse information
on biometrics technologies, research results, biometric system
examples, federal & state applications, and other topics.
With over 180,000 – 200,000 hits per month, it is one of the most
used reference sources on biometrics.
BC Support to Users, Industry and the Entire Community
The growth of biometrics and related technologies in the marketplace
is placing greater demand on biometric system developers, researchers
and users to work together to address a number of issues including
privacy, research, testing and evaluation, infrastructure, and
standards developments. The Biometric Consortium is
providing a forum to facilitate this work.
NIST/ITL and NSA collaborate in fostering and conducting research
in biometrics technologies and related authentication technologies
to assist users and the industries in developing new technology
capabilities, testing methodologies, and standards. These efforts
are in support of information security, homeland security, the
prevention of ID theft, electronic commerce and other identification,
and authentication applications.
Recent NIST/ITL and NSA co-sponsored activities and events:
 NIST
& BC Biometric Interoperability, Performance, and Assurance
WG
Common
Biometric Exchange Format (CBEFF) development
NIST
research on interoperability, data interchange, evaluation and
standardization of biometrics
Annual
conferences and technical workshops (e.g., BioAPI Users' and Developers'
Seminar, co-sponsored by the BioAPI Consortium)
Standards
meetings
Advisory
role to other government agencies:
DoD's
Biometric Management Office
GSA's
Federal Technology Services, Center for Smart Card Solutions
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