As market leaders and long-standing partners of European institutions and governments, IDEMIA Public Security and Sopra Steria led the design and implementation of the new shared Biometric Matching Service for eu-LISA.
Courbevoie, France. August 25, 2025 – IDEMIA Public Security, the leading provider of secure and trusted biometric-based solutions and Sopra Steria, a leading European-based consulting, digital services, and software development
company, have successfully completed the go-live of eu-LISA’s new shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS). This achievement marks an important milestone in the roll-out of the Interoperability Roadmap by the EU Agency responsible for the management
of large-scale IT systems within the Schengen area.
IDEMIA Public Security and Sopra Steria led the design and implementation of the new sBMS system, the EU’s central biometric matching system that stores and compares biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images. The sBMS aims to fight irregular
immigration and trans-border crime, enhancing the efficiency and security of Schengen Area border and migration management. For example, when a third-country national comes into Europe for the first time, they will be registered and searched in the
sBMS, where authorities will then be able to check whether they are the person they claim to be through biometric verification.
The system was launched with eu-LISA's Visa Information System (VIS), a large-scale IT system that supports the implementation of the EU’s common visa policy and facilitates checks at external borders and will serve the identification needs of other
EU information systems in the future, such as the upcoming European Entry/Exit System (EES). The future EES will include biometric verification and identification of travelers based on their facial image and four fingerprints and will serve as one
of the largest biometric systems in the world, integrating a database of over 400 million third-country nationals with their fingerprints and facial images.
With IDEMIA Public Security’s best-in-class biometric technology and highly-ranked algorithms across all modalities, combined with Sopra Steria’s competencies as a European leader in digital transformation and Homeland Security, the pair was
selected by eu-LISA to build the sBMS for border protection of the Schengen Area in 2020.
As a market leader in the travel and transport industry, focusing on accurate and efficient technology solutions that deliver the highest level of performance and enhance border control operations and identity verification in high-risk environments, IDEMIA
was equipped to contribute to one of the largest scale biometric databases, ensuring accuracy and fast response times.
We are excited to partner with eu-LISA and advance our mission of enabling secure, seamless, and personalized digital passenger journeys for travelers across the world. With our work to design and implement the sBMS, Europe will manage one of the largest
biometric systems in the world. This is another example of how IDEMIA’s technology can make the world a safer place more than ever before, and we’re proud to play a critical role in this journey. Tim Ferris SVP, Travel & Transport, IDEMIA Public Security.
Sopra Steria is honored to be a longstanding and trusted partner of the EU Agency, contributing to the successful implementation of critical large-scale IT systems. The accomplished go-live of the shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS) represents a
significant milestone in the realization of the EU’s Interoperability Architecture, reinforcing our joint commitment to enhancing security and operational efficiency across Europe. Michel Lorgéré
Deputy CEO, Sopra Steria Benelux.
As long-standing partners of European institutions and governments, IDEMIA Public Security and Sopra Steria have supported the European Union for more than 20 years in the management of mission-critical IT systems to enhance security within the Schengen
area.
IDEMIA Public Security delivers innovative, secure and trustworthy biometric travel solutions that streamline travel and border operations, optimize processes, enhance
decision making, and enable seamless, personalized, digital passenger journeys.
Sopra Steria is actively shaping Europe in the domain of Justice
and Home Affairs with profound expertise in Central EU systems, national interfaces and national systems. As a true end-to-end player spanning a comprehensive range of services to drive impactful change through innovative solutions Sopra Steria partners
with more than 50 government departments and 60 public bodies across Europe.