SecuGen Hamster
III News Article
From
SC Magazine - Date: Oct-06-04
 This
device is an exquisite little fingerprint
reader with immediate visual and tactile appeal.
Manufactured in Korea, it has been cleverly
designed to offer flexibility of placement.
You can hold it in your hand and use your
thumbprint, in which case it is intuitive
and comfortable. If you wish to attach it
to your workstation, SecuGen even supplies
a base with rubberized feet which is heavy
enough to hold the Hamster firmly in place.
It features an optical sensor which works
extremely well in practice
, with reliable
and fast fingerprint verification.
As with the SecuGen Mouse, it works seamlessly
with the SNAP software to provide Windows
logon facilities. The SNAP software is actually
quite versatile and allows for workstation
standalone use, workstation connected to a
network or fully fledged network use with
centrally stored templates.
It also features error logging and other useful
facilities, although users will need to familiarize
themselves with it, as there is no manual
supplied. However, this is apparently a pre-release
version of SNAP and, in any case, this will
not deter the experienced systems administrator
(the vendor tells us there is a PDF manual
in the official release version of the software
that accompanies this product).
In practice, the Hamster worked very well,
sitting quietly in its base beside the test
workstation's keyboard and falling readily
under the user's hand for fast and consistent
fingerprint verification. This is aided by
a sculptured surface that guides the finger
(or thumb) precisely over the surface of the
sensor.
Indeed, it would be quite hard to seriously
misalign your finger when using the Hamster.
Multiple fingers may be enrolled for the same
user profile if required, although this is
not quite as intuitive a process as it might
be using the SNAP software.
Overall, this is a good-quality fingerprint
device that, once it is properly installed
and set-up, will provide reliable fingerprint
verification for Windows logon purposes via
a dialog that allows for either fingerprint
or password operation.
By Julian Ashbourn |
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