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Raja Simhan T.E

Chennai , April 23

PASSWORDS are old hat. Welcome to the era of Web cameras and fingerprint access. Easy-to-use cash dispensing machines that use these technologies will be available in a couple of months in rural areas.

Costing about Rs 40,000 each, compared to ATMs available in the market for about Rs 8 lakh, the Gramateller INDI will do away with personal identification numbers. Just a thumb impression is enough for a person to get cash from the machine.

A prototype of the machine is ready at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and testing is taking place on network integration between the machine and a remote server, said Mr L. Kannan, Managing Director, Vortex Engineering, a city-based firm floated by IIT alumni.

Vortex and the Telecom and Network group (TeNeT) at IIT, Madras jointly developed the machine, he said.

ICICI Bank, which wanted Vortex to develop a cost effective cash-dispensing machine for rural areas, plans to install the machines in Internet kiosks that the TeNeT group has set up across villages in the country, he added.

While a magnetic-stripe card is used for cash dispensing in an ATM, in a Gramateller INDI a user only has to display a smart card and authenticate oneself through the fingerprint identification module.

The machine would send this image through a personal computer that has a Web camera to a remote server of the bank.

When the server confirms the identity by comparing the images that are stored in the server, the person can use the keyboard of the PC or keypad on the machine to specify cash required. The machine then dispenses the cash. The smart card, issued by nLogue Communication, a TeNeT group company, can also be used for offline applications, including as proof of identity, driving licence and debit card.

According to him, the bank and kiosks will be networked through corDECT connectivity, which offers simultaneous voice (telephone) and data (Internet) services. All communication to and from the machine will be secure, he added.

For a kiosk operator, there is no investment except for the PC, peripherals and connectivity. The bank invests in the machine.

On refilling cash in machines, Mr Kannan said that it would be a major issue since everything is done through the Web.

nLogue is developing a business model around the movement of physical goods to and from remote rural areas. The issue of cash movement was being addressed as part of this, he said.

More Stories on : Software | Software | Rural Development

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