IT news: Amadeus to acquire IDEMIA Public Security

Global IT giant, Amadeus, has announced its intention to acquire IDEMIA Public Security (IPS), a leading biometrics and identity services provider headquartered in France, for €1.2 billion.

IPS has a global footprint and a diversified customer base across public and private sectors, and Amadeus says its acquisition will further strengthen the company’s biometric and identity capabilities by leveraging IPS’ market-leading technology, end-to-end platform, and strong global blue-chip-client base.

If it goes ahead, the move will follow Amadeus’ 2024 acquisition of Vision-Box.

Talking about the planned acquisition of IPS, Amadeus president and CEO, Luis Maroto, said: “This demonstrates further our long‑term commitment to biometrics as part of our broader platform strategy.

“Alongside AI, biometrics is one of the most transformative technologies for delivering fast, convenient, and secure end‑to‑end traveller journeys.

“This will enable us to deliver our services across more traveler touch points, in turn reducing friction, and improving the traveler experience, while supporting our ambition to further expand biometric capabilities, extending traveller ID throughout the journey.”

While Decius Valmorbida, the company’s president for travel, noted: “In a fast‑evolving AI‑world the bridging of physical and digital identity will be critical for seamless travel.

“By combining Amadeus and IPS capabilities we will be able to create more joined‑up travel journeys in the future, better connecting the travel ecosystem and linking the traveler to the different steps of the journey.”