One sure way to ensure that the queues at John F. Kennedy International airport in New York eased was to introduce a hand-recognition system for frequent business travellers. While the field of biometrics, that is, the recognition of physiological characteristics, still has not taken off in the US on a massive scale, it is used on a small scale. One of the first to use a biometric device for border crossing purposes was the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS), an agency of the Department of Justice. In May 1993, the INS introduced an automated system called INSPASS (Passenger Accelerated Service System) to reduce immigration inspection processing time for authorised travellers. It combines automation with a hand geometry biometric image, to validate the identity of an individual. Travellers can enrol in the programme free at an INS enrolment office or by downloading an INSPASS application form from the INS Internet home page at http://www.usdoj.gov/ins/forms

An immigration inspector enters application data to a database system and collects a digital photograph, fingerprints, hand geometry or other biometrics. The inspector interviews applicants to determine their admissibility to the US and INSPASS enrolment eligibility.

Under the scheme, on arrival at an INSPASS Port of Entry, the traveller proceeds to an INSPASS inspection lane. There the traveller inserts the PortPASS card, issued by the INS at enrolment, to an INSPASS kiosk, similar to an ATM. Currently the PortPASS cards issued for INSPASS kiosk use are valid for one year.

Responding to a series of messages on the kiosk's touch screen display, the traveller is prompted to enter his flight number and to place his hand on a reader supplied by Recognition Systems Inc of Campbell, California. The kiosk software automatically compares the traveller's hand geometry biometric to the image captured at enrolment.

If the traveller's identity is validated by this comparison, a receipt of his inspection is printed by the kiosk, a gate opens and the traveller can proceed. If this check is not successful, a message refers the traveller to the immigration inspector in an adjacent inspection booth.

Since its introduction, about 150,000 people have enrolled in the INSPASS programme which along with JFK International Airport, is also being tested at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario in Canada and Miami International Airport in Florida.

Participation in the INSPASS is voluntary and open to citizens of the US, Canada, Bermuda and the Visa Waiver Pilot Program (VWPP) for people who travel to the US on business three or more times a year, or who are diplomats, representatives of international organisations, or airline crews from the VWPP nations (of which Ireland is one).

A preliminary agreement has been reached with the immigration authorities of Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, to ensure inter-operability between the automated inspection systems of each of these countries.

While the INSPASS programme may sound efficient, IBM has refined the concept and has designed a more technically advanced system for worldwide use by the public. Last month, it completed testing its Fastgate programme at Bermuda International Airport. In conjunction with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), it aims to automate border controls globally to increase efficiency and security and to connect up to 20 million people on the network.

Fastgate also verifies identity using a hand recognition system each unit can hold 27,000 hand templates but instead of using a separate card with information, it links travellers to the system through currently used commercial cards such as credit cards, frequent-flyer cards, bank ATM cards or telephone cards. "The real brilliance with what IBM came up with was to have it operate by use of any standard credit card or magnetic stripe bank card," said Mr Rick Norton, a consultant on automated border control systems.

"The traveller registers the credit card and then the information is put in the system which extracts records from a central database which can be replicated on a local area network," said Mr Norton.

Registration information provided through the card issuers is made available in advance to immigration authorities. After a quick verification process, travellers are enrolled in the fully automated Fastgate programme. Anytime anyone registers as a Fastgate user, the information is relayed on IBM's worldwide internal network, so the information is neither airport nor airline specific.

On future trips, travellers can go through the Fastgates for clearance instead of waiting in line. Each use of Fastgate is reported to the card issuer whose card was used for the transaction. The issuer pays a fee to IBM to cover the costs of the system and it is up to the card issuer to decide if and how these costs are passed along to the traveller.

While Bermuda has just introduced the IBM Fastgate programme, the next airports most likely to use it are Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Heathrow in London.