The agreement enables UK-based e-commerce consultancy Hyperion to license Domain Dynamics Tespar technology to develop and demonstrate solutions for verifying user IDs on mobile devices.

"Speech communication is natural to us - so authenticating a person's identity by analysing their voice print is the most intuitive and acceptable form of biometric verification," says Neil Garner, head of prototyping and development at Consult Hyperion. "Augmenting our existing technologies and expertise with Domain Dynamics' Tespar software will allow us to prototype exceptionally user-friendly and secure e-commerce systems."

He says the Tespar technology stands up well to noisy conditions. "It is ideal for authentication and recognition on devices such as smart cards and PDAs."

Consult Hyperion is planning to create prototypes demonstrating how internet PC and pocket PC devices may be used with multi-application smart cards to create voice authenticated digital identity solutions.

Domain Dynamics recently ported its voice authentication code and user templates to standard 8 bit, 8k Java Cards. "We were looking for an expert partner to integrate and demonstrate our identity verification with emerging security technologies," says Martin George, sales manager. "Consult Hyperion has the expertise we require in the areas of cryptography, PKI and digital certificate processes to complement the speech biometric implementation of our Tespar technology."

Hyperion has a strong track record in the implementation of PKI and smart card-based solutions within the banking industry.

The Hyperion licensing agreement complements Domain Dynamics' other licensing arrangements, says George, including ET Voice (a subsidiary of European Telecom) which is incorporating Tespar based voice authentication and word recognition technology in mobile phone handsets, and Earthport which is adding speaker verification to its Internet-based payment system (soon to be rolled out by UK direct bank Egg) as an extra security measure.