ABIS Cloud Trends: Introduction

Ten years ago, at the 2012 IAI, I presented on “Is It Time to Upgrade to Cloud Technology?” Today more than 20 percent of US state public safety agencies have “gone cloud” and our firm, ABC Inc., has worked with or interviewed a number of them. This year I had the privilege of presenting on “ABIS Cloud Trends.” This series of blog articles shares some of what ABC experts have learned by procuring and implementing cloud ABIS and developing targeted test sets for cloud operations.

Back in 2012 I defined some now-familiar terms for my audience:

• Automated Biometric Identification Systems (ABIS) now store and search not just fingerprints but also facial photos and (new development) potentially iris images, voice prints, or signatures.

• Cloud Computing — Storage and search tasks, as well as maintenance, security, and software updates are delivered as a service by the cloud provider.

• ABIS Functions (booking, ID, latent tasks) — Supplied on-demand, as services supported by the cloud, which provides the background infrastructure enabling ABIS operations.

In 2012 I listed reliability, scalability, and security as reasons to shift to cloud operations. During our interviews, today’s administrators also talked about major efficiency savings, a better focus on their users (versus system management tasks), frequent technology improvements, and more.

Please read on to discover the next trends in ABIS Cloud Operations!