Intel has confirmed that it recently purchased the Israeli company Idesia Biometrics, known for its heart-beat technology. Although no price tag was officially published, the business daily Globes reported that the buyout was in the “millions of dollars.”
The medical device company develops heart-based biometric technology that allows personal computers, mobile phones and other gadgets to recognize a user through his or her heartbeats.
The Israeli technology could provide Intel with a more secure way to recognize users.
“Intel is very worried about security. That’s one of their major thrusts,” Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64, told IDG News. “If [Idesia] has something unique, then Intel could possibly create a relatively easy sensor that could go into a smartphone or tablet that could monitor the heartbeat.”
Prior to the sale Idesia had 14 employees, 10 of them in Israel.
Intel has invested $9.4 billion in Israel to date.
According to Globes, Idesia had raised $7 million from Partech International and Aladdin Knowledge Systems, now a unit of SafeNet.
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