Big Brother is coming, to a photocopier near you.
Ricoh, the Japanese-owned office equipment manufacturer, is working on developing a system of embedded biometric technology to enable it to include fingerprint recognition in its multi-function photocopy, scanning and fax machines.
The company says that, as its products become increasingly sophisticated and are frequently networked into office computer systems, the need for greater security of access has led them to work on biometrics.
Some of Ricoh’s products already allow for documents to be scanned directly into an office computer system, or to fax documents from an office computer to a third party.
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At least one company in the UK has specifically requested the development of an authentication device to restrict access to its computers via its office machinery.
“Our multi-function printers are another access point to a company’s computer system,” Chas Moloney, Ricoh UK’s marketing director, told Times Online.
“With ever-increasing security threats from hackers, internet worms and viruses, it makes practical sense to make sure that one important gateway to the office computer is subject to the same level of security as all others.”
It is already common for some businesses to insist on some form of pass code for authorised members of staff to use the office copier. Ricoh’s development could see the touch pad control screens have an added button that will “read” an individual worker’s fingerprint before the copy or print button is pressed.
Such security measures may have other “benefits”, too.
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Businesses that are keen to cut back on overheads from non-business related copying and paper costs might now be able to exercise precise control over who is using their machines.
And it could also call a halt to the traditional office party prank of photo-copying certain parts of the anatomy by members of staff - using biometric recognition, managers will be able to recognise whose backside had been placed on the machine overnight.
Ricoh is the market leader in the UK, with a 36.5 per cent share of the colour-capable copier market. Globally, the Tokyo-based Ricoh Group had sales of more than £10 billion in the financial year ended 2005.
It is likely, therefore, that once its biometric system is introduced, possibly as early as this year, other companies in the sector will follow.
Ricoh, together with several technology partners, is also close to introducing a multi-function machine that has a PC screen and keyboard fully integrated, and is also encouraging use of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology for the sending of documents by fax from its machines which could cut businesses’ phone bills drastically.
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“Everyone’s been talking about IP-based telephony solutions for four or five years,” Mr Moloney said, “but it has only been in the past year that businesses have really begun to use it. We anticipate that any businesses that has adopted VoIP will soon see the advantages of sending documents that way, too, and we are providing the machinery to allow them to do so.”