Agnitio
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| Company type | Acquired |
|---|---|
| Industry | Voice Biometrics |
| Founded | 2004, Acquired by Nuance Communications Inc. |
| Headquarters | , Spain |
Key people | Emilio Martínez, CEO Javier Castaño, COO |
| Products | ASIS BS3 BATVOX KIVOX Verifier |
Number of employees | > 35 |
| Website | www.agnitio-corp.com |
AGNITIO S.L. is a voice biometrics technology company with headquarters in Madrid, Spain. Agnitio provides voice biometrics solutions for homeland security and corporate clients.
History
Origins
AGNITIO was founded in 2004 as a spin-off from the Biometric Recognition Group - ATVS at the Technical University of Madrid.[1] Its products are used by police departments in more than 35 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas,[2] resulting in AGNITIO being considered a market leader in forensic voice biometrics. On October 19, 2016, Nuance Communications Inc. acquired Agnitio.[3]
Market expansion
In addition to forensic applications, voice biometrics is generally considered to be one of the technologies (along with One Time PIN generators such as SecurID) suitable for strong authentication of telephone and electronic transactions. However, unlike token based One Time PIN generators, voice biometrics does not require the user to have any specific hardware making it more economically suitable for mass-market applications. Users simply need access to a mobile or landline telephone.[4] This makes voice biometrics a very promising technology for phone and on-line banking, as well as many other corporate voice applications and security needs. Automated password reset procedures, presence monitoring, time and attendance, call center user verification and verification based on free speech are some examples of typical applications that can be front-ended with voice biometrics.
AGNITIO's success in the homeland security market has attracted venture capital funding, which is being used to enter deeper into the enterprise/corporate market. KIVOX, AGNITiO's corporate-focused offering, expands upon the inherent benefits of voice biometrics by utilizing the same core technologies found in its homeland security solutions.
Technology
AGNITIO develops both forensic and real time speaker identification solutions, as well as speaker authentication solutions (see Verification vs. identification) that share the same text-independent technology core. In addition, a text-dependent, digit based voice biometric authentication solution is offered for corporate implementors.
AGNITIO's core technologies are based on the NIST-evaluated,[5][6] ATVS biometrics technology, which was transferred to AGNITIO as part of its founding. AGNITIO currently maintains its own independent Research and Development department while maintaining a close collaboration with the ATVS and other research institutes throughout the world.
Controversy
In 2013 Agnitio appeared in Wikileaks Spyfiles as an example of mass surveillance technology used by world intelligence agencies.[7] The event raised doubts about some Agnitio customers [8] [9]
See also
References
- ^ "Agnitio: A business idea".
- ^ "Douwe Mik se incorpora a Agnitio como Vicepresidente de Creación de Negocio".
- ^ http://opusresearch.net/wordpress/2016/10/19/iauth-chronicles-nuance-acquires-agnitio/
- ^ "Voice biometrics: coming to a security system near you".
- ^ "NIST: Speaker Recognition Evaluation".
- ^ "Biometric Recognition Group - ATVS: Activities".
- ^ "Wikileaks, Spy Files #3".
- ^ Villa, Lucía (4 September 2013). "La empresa de espionaje española en el objetivo de Wikileaks: "Hace falta más control sobre los gobiernos"". Público. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Del Pino, Daniel (1 December 2011). "Wikileaks revela que 160 empresas están en la industria del espionaje". Público. Retrieved 5 July 2016.