IBM Unveils Automated Airport Immigration System
<I>Washington, D.C.</I> - IBM earlier this month unveiled its Fastgate automated border clearance system, which it has designed to speed up passenger processing time at international airports by replacing the immigration officer with an ATM-styled device activated by a common card system.
IBM officials showcased the new system, which has been in active development for a year, at the annual meeting of the World Travel and Tourism Council, held here April 16 through 18. WTTC is backing the concept of a rapid entry system for border crossings as one way to eliminate barriers to travel and tourism growth worldwide.
Fastgate identifies travelers through the use of biometrics that measure a person's hand geometry. Although that concept is already in use by INSPass, the non-IBM system now being tested by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Fastgate doesn't require the issuance of a special card from the Justice Department, as INSPass does.
Instead, the issue of what card to use to access the automated processing system and what it should contain should be decided by private card issuers already in the market, said Jeffrey Mortner, IBM manager for the Fastgate project. "We want to leverage existing wallet share," Mortner quipped.
IBM's plan is to fund placement of the ATM-type machines in international airports and sell the service to card issuers, such as American Express and Visa. The airport would have to agree to provide the space for the machines and cooperate in the project. However, airports might be offered the ability to invest in the Fastgate program for a share of the revenues, Mortner said.
It would be up to the card issuers to determine how to price this service for their clients. Mortner suggested that card companies offering the Fastgate service might provide it free to their top cardholders.
To enroll in the system, first-time Fastgate users would provide their card issuer with their passport information; they would not have to visit an INS office. The hand geometry measurements would be taken at the airport when the traveler first uses the system.
Once enrolled in the program, the traveler simply inserts his or her card and one hand into a reader device, where the information is married with the information contained in the IBM-managed database. Fastgate then requests an online confirmation from the border control authority database to ensure there are no security alerts issued for the traveler. It is expected to take under 15 seconds for the passenger to clear immigration.
As a bonus, the reader issues an ATM-type receipt for the traveler, which can be keyed to contain such information as the currency conversion in the country, the weather report and emergency local telephone numbers.
Fastgate will be introduced to thousands of travelers beginning in May at the Bermuda International Airport near Hamilton. Local card issuers will be used for this test phase, Mortner said. By September, the program should be fully operational in Bermuda.
Mortner declined to identify card companies that have willingness to become part of the Fastgate program when it hits the worldwide market, but he said there is "enthusiastic interest" from major card companies. "We want to make it work well in Bermuda, and then we'll expand," he said.
Mortner emphasized that Fastgate procedures will be refined based on the Bermuda test. "We don't want to build a public-use system in a lab," he explained. "We want public experience used in the development process."
Mortner declined to be specific about the expected profit to IBM that Fastgate will generate, and would only say, "we are looking at making a profit."
Mortner also declined to state what governments are likely candidates to adopt the Fastgate program but said IBM is working with governments in North America, Europe and Asia. IBM's goal is to have 25 to 30 major airports worldwide adopting the system within five years with use by millions of passengers.
The tricky question to answer is what posture the United States will adopt toward Fastgate because INS is refining its own INSPass program, based on work done by its own technology staff with assistance from EDS.
INSPass is still in a pilot test phase, which began in 1993, with three locations: Newark International, John F. Kennedy International and the INS pre-clearance site at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. As of Sept. 30, 1996, there were more than 65,000 enrollments or renewals in INSPass and in excess of 183,000 admissions to this country using the program, according to an INS spokesperson.
Last year, INS announced that INSPass would be installed at the airports in Miami, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Houston, San Francisco and Vancouver during 1997 and that during 1998, Chicago and Montreal would be added.