Big Design Wins Loom for EyeLock Iris Authentication, new Majority Owner Voxx Says

Voxx International’s recent $20.2 million purchase of a majority stake in biometric security supplier EyeLock is important to Voxx because the IoT “has made security a critical part of daily life, demanding more efficient means of protecting identities and assets,” Voxx CEO Pat Lavelle said last week on an earnings call. EyeLock boasts a portfolio numbering more than 100 patents, which includes items “with technology that can potentially create the most powerful cybersecurity solution available as well as logical and perimeter access solutions,” Lavelle said. With its acquisition of a controlling interest in EyeLock, Voxx now controls “all of their IP and substantially all of their assets,” he said. “Their technology and business model enables them to scale across multiple markets and there was no doubt in our minds that iris biometrics will be one of, if not the, chosen method for authentication in the future,” he said. By the end of the decade, iris authentication “will become commonplace” for consumers, financial institutions and government and defense contractors, he said. Moreover, automakers and tech companies “may look to integrate iris authentication into routers, switches, set-top boxes, PCs and mobile devices,” he said. “Blue chip partners and global brands” are evaluating or have already adopted EyeLock's iris authentication technology “as a means to improve system and infrastructure security and for embedded technology applications,” he said. EyeLock also is in talks “with leading PC, tablet and laptop makers about embedding their technology in these devices,” he said.