Salto Systems on Tuesday announced that it has acquired Cognitec Systems, a developer of automatic face recognition technology. In a statement, Salto said that investing in Cognitec would provide it with the ability to control the company’s technology from its origin and create a broad range of innovations for existing and future customers.
Based in Germany with offices in Australia, Spain and the U.S., Cognitec’s portfolio of solutions includes face image database search, recorded video investigation, real-time video screening and people analytics, border control, ICAO compliant photo capturing, and face image quality assessment. The company’s flagship FaceVACS algorithm has also been continuously validated by NIST (National Institute for Standards & Technology) performance tests.
Since its founding in 2002, Cognitec has partnered with government entities, law enforcement agencies, and commercial clients in more than 50 countries. For example, the German Border Police use Cognitec technology to facilitate automated passport checks and biometric photo capture within the European Entry-Exit System (EES).
“Working with Cognitec gives Salto the opportunity to integrate emerging biometrics, face recognition, and artificial intelligence technologies into our group products and platforms to create new solutions and services that benefit all of our clients,” Salto Systems Chief Technology Innovation Officer Marc Handels said in the statement. “Cognitec’s technology is highly compatible and integrable across the Salto product portfolio of access control, smart lockers, and booking and ticketing solutions. Incorporating applications like frictionless check-in and hands-free access into our applications will improve the Salto customer experience whether it’s used in business, residential, or leisure and fitness.”
“Salto is a strong company and is globally well-positioned. Their expanding footprint offers us an incredible opportunity to reach the fastest-growing markets in face recognition and at the same time, expand our established business with our mature face recognition products,” added Cognitec CEO Alfredo Herrera. “Since our founding, Cognitec has been the only company worldwide that has worked exclusively on face recognition technologies. Because we’re innovators, it makes sense for us to join with a partner like SALTO, a respected leader in the security industry.”
