Biometric Access
A credential that cannot be lent.
Fingerprint and palm-vein matching for the doors where you need to prove who came through, not just that a valid card did. Templates never leave the reader in a reversible form.
Cards answer the question "was a valid credential presented?" Biometrics answer the question "who was actually standing there?" For most doors the first question is enough. For a cash room, a server rack or a controlled-drugs cabinet, it is not.
How it works
The detail that decides whether this survives contact with a real building.
- Modalities
- Capacitive fingerprint and contactless palm vein
- Template
- Irreversible feature vector; the raw ridge image is never persisted
- Duress
- A designated duress finger opens the door and raises a silent alarm
- Multi-factor
- Pairs with a card or a PIN for two-factor entry on the highest-value doors
- Non-transferable
- Cannot be handed to a colleague, which is the entire point
A credential that cannot be lent
The single most common access-control failure is a card handed to a colleague for convenience. A fingerprint or a palm cannot be passed across a desk, which is why regulated environments keep asking for it.
Fingerprint and palm vein
Capacitive fingerprint suits dry office environments. Palm vein is contactless and reads a pattern under the skin, so it survives gloves being taken off, worn fingertips, and hands that spend the day in water.
The template is one-way
What is stored is a feature vector, not a ridge image. It cannot be reconstructed into a fingerprint, which matters both for privacy law and for what happens if hardware is ever stolen.
A duress finger
Nominate a specific finger as the duress credential. Presenting it opens the door exactly as normal — no alarm sound, no visible change at the panel — while a silent alert reaches the console. Under coercion, the safest outcome is the door opening.
Two factors on the doors that need them
Pair the biometric with a card or a PIN so entry needs something you are plus something you have or know. This is set per door, not per site, because most buildings only need it on two or three.
An audit trail that stands up
Every read is logged against a person with a timestamp and a door. When an auditor asks who entered the cash room at 02:14, the answer is a name, not a card number that three people had access to.
Where this fits
Server rooms, cash rooms, pharmacy stores, and any door with an audit obligation.
Because every channel resolves to the same holder record, this does not have to be the only way in. A person can hold this alongside a card, a PIN and a plate, and the audit trail still reads as one identity.
Questions about biometric access
Can my fingerprint be reconstructed from what is stored?
No. Enrolment produces an irreversible feature vector and discards the ridge image. There is no path from the stored template back to a usable fingerprint.
What if someone forces me to open a door?
Present the finger you nominated as your duress credential. The door opens normally so nothing escalates at the doorway, and a silent alarm reaches the console at the same moment.
Does it work with dirty or damaged fingers?
Capacitive fingerprint readers struggle with heavily worn or wet fingertips, which is exactly the case palm vein is for — it reads a vein pattern beneath the skin and is unaffected by surface condition.
Do biometrics work when the network is down?
Yes. Templates are held on the reader and matched on the reader, so an outage does not affect entry.
The other ways in
One access list, one console, one audit trail — whichever of these a person happens to be carrying.
Face Recognition
Walk up, look up, walk through.
UltraPASS-VehicleVehicle Plate Recognition
The car is the credential.
UltraPASS-DoorNFC, MIFARE & HID Cards
Keep the cards you already issued.
UltraPASS-DoorBluetooth & BLE
The phone stays in the pocket.
UltraPASS-DoorDynamic QR Codes
A key that expires while you watch it.
UltraPASS-DoorBarcodes & Static Passes
For everything already printed.
UltraPASS-DoorPIN & Keypad
The fallback that always works.
Put biometric access on your doors
Talk to Patrick about what is already installed and what it would take to move it onto xSERVA.
Book a Demo