An Irish software firm responsible for providing identity assurance software has won a €30m (AUS$50m) deal to provide biometric technology to the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
Dublin-headquartered Daon, which also has offices in Sydney, Washington, London and Dublin will work with global IT consultancy Unisys to roll out the border security project.
Speaking during a trade mission to Australia, the Junior Minister for Enterprise Michael Ahern TD said that the deal is the largest ever single contract to be won by an Irish company operating in Australia.
So far 46 Irish companies have offices in Australia, up from 19 in 2001 and they cover a wide range of sectors from IT and telecoms to financial services and agribusiness.
“Australia joins a rapidly growing list of governments who have selected Daon software as part of their identity assurance programs, with numerous programs underway in the US, Europe, the UK, Asia and Middle East,” Minister Ahern said.
He continued: “Daon has proven its ability to provide a robust, scalable, future-proof platform for establishing identity, which is critical in preventing the use of falsified documents by terrorists or others seeking to enter a country illegally.
“There are significant opportunities for substantial growth in Irish-Australian trade in the coming years. There are already a number of such alliances between Irish and Australian companies and there is scope for more linkages through investment, technology transfer, joint ventures, acquisitions, and other forms of joint marketing and trade relationships” Minister Ahern added.
Daon’s multi-modal authentication infrastructure, DaonEngine, integrates seamlessly with IT platforms and applications and manages the identity life-cycle of small and large populations.
Terry Hartmann, director and global services lead for Secure Identifcation and Biometrics at Unisys said: “Daon is a core part of the delivery team with responsibility for strategic consulting, subject-matter expertise, support for research and innovation as well as provision of biometric data management software.
“In our due diligence for this important project, we determined that Daon is an industry leader in delivering integrated biometric platforms for enterprise systems, making them the ideal partner for this programme,” Hartmann added.
By John Kennedy
