GE Security's Secure Registered Traveler Kiosk Arrives in Europe in Bid to Help Frequent Flyers Pass Through Airport Security More Quickly
GE HomelandProtection Inc., a business of GE Security, Inc. and a wholly ownedindirect subsidiary of the General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), todayannounced its advanced-technology Secure Registered Traveler (SRT)Kiosk has arrived in Europe.
GE intends to introduce thisrevolutionary new aviation security product to airport operators andsecurity officials to explore its uses for offering frequent flyerstransiting European airports more effective and more convenientsecurity screening.In the U.S., the SRT Kiosk supports the first private RegisteredTraveler (RT) program lanes - Verified Identity Pass, Inc.'s Clearlanes - at a growing number of airports. Currently, more than 30kiosks are deployed to seven airports across the U.S. with furtherdeployments planned."The requirement to remove shoes and jackets at the airport is a topcomplaint of frequent travelers everywhere, and GE's SRT Kiosk is thefirst technology breakthrough to have the potential to eliminate theneed for air passengers to endure these inconveniences," said DennisCooke, president, GE Security's Homeland Protection business. "We'reoptimistic that through collaboration with airport and securitypartners, we can identify European solutions that offer better andmore convenient security screening for frequent flyers using airportsacross Europe.""We are witnessing the beginning of a revolution in aviationsecurity, one that will fundamentally alter the passenger experience.The shoe-scanning technology in GE's new kiosk will one day beremembered as what started this revolution," said Matthew Farr,senior homeland security analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "The GE SRT Kioskis blazing the path for this and Future generations of aviationsecurity technologies to enter the market in a more expedientfashion, which will deliver better and less intrusive securityscreening to all air travelers."The GE SRT Kiosk is the first integrated, or sensor-fused, aviationsecurity product, purpose built for the Registered Traveler (RT)market, to be deployed to an airport passenger checkpoint. RT programmembers identified and assessed by the SRT Kiosk may enjoy a moreconvenient airport experience, including potential waiver of the needto remove their shoes in many cases. It's hoped that a future benefitto be afforded by security officials may allow users to avoidremoving jackets and other outer garments.The GE SRT Kiosk offers a one-stop, self-serve solution for quickly,conveniently and positively identifying program members whilepotentially enhancing overall security as a result of evaluatingfinger scans and shoes for indications of possible threats. The kioskintegrates quadrupole resonance and trace (ITMS) explosives detectiontechnologies with biometric identification functionality to create asolution built specifically to support RT programs.The trace explosives detection and quadrupole resonancefunctionalities of the Kiosk are being evaluated by the TSA and havenot yet been approved for permanent use in U.S. airports.The integration of multiple technologies into one kiosk is an initialstep toward realization of GE Security's vision for the airportcheckpoint of the future where the data from multiple securitysensors are fused to produce a collective security product that ismore than the sum of the individual sensors' parts. In thesensor-fused airport of the future, GE envisions creation ofsomething that doesn't exist today, a TOTAL passenger securitypicture made up of data from all available sensors, with each able tosignal increased scrutiny by other sensors as "alarms" occur.The SRT Kiosk will be on display at the Inter Airport Europe 2007Conference and Exhibition, hangar 4, hall 4A, booth P14, MunichInternational Airport.
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