India To Launch World’s Biggest Biometric Database

India To Launch World’s Biggest Biometric Database

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In an effort to combat identity theft and fraud in the country, India is launching a new biometric database – the world’s largest. With over 1.25 billion citizens India has one of the world’s biggest populations. The challenges presented by this ambitious project are enormous, but so are the opportunities, says MapR who were commissioned for the work by the Indian government.

Aadhaar, a 12 digit unique identifying number issued to each citizen, is to be paired with biometric identity verification procedures. To achieve this, a large database of fingerprints and iris scans is to be created. Through access to this database identity can be proven in highly reliable manner.

Over a hundred million identifications take place each day, and for the system to work efficiently the process must be streamlined and work without a hitch. MapR, who develop and distribute Apache Hadoop technology that integrates enterprise storage and real-time database technology, are bringing their expertise to provide solutions to these challenges.

“Multiple challenges include storage analytics to make sure the data is accurate, security, and very high-volumes of authentications,” says John Schroeder, MapR co-founder and CEO.

The company aims for speeds of approximately 200 milliseconds per query, but that is not the only issue they face. Much of India’s population lives in rural areas still not connected to all the amenities of the 21st century.

“It had to be implemented in a very economical way,” says Schroeder, “enrollment is on inexpensive laptops, the low bandwidth and resilient technology must be able to work with the registrations coming in from areas of low connectivity.”

This new database should provide increased security for India’s large population, greatly reducing the risk of identity fraud and financial damage. It will be one of the most advanced systems of its kind in the world.

“Aadhaar is a huge leap-frog over the U.S. where social security is just a number,” says Schroeder. “we don’t have the validation and biometric identification to match the person.”