Introduction
In Part I, we examined what the EU Entry/Exit System (EU-EES) is, how it differs to legacy border control processes and the challenges that caused its delayed launch. In this follow-up, we move beyond this to explore the unexpected opportunities the system creates for both vendors and government agencies, the impact of remote enrolment, and an updated view of the market landscape and what to expect next.
Valour Consultancy will continue to track this evolution closely, with deeper analysis to come in our forthcoming report, Smart Borders 2025 – The Future Evolution of Land, Sea and Air Borders, publishing in Q4 2025.
Unforeseen Opportunities
Delays are rarely welcomed, but in the case of the EU-EES, they have created unexpected openings. Despite the repeated postponements, all 29 participating countries have installed EU-EES-compliant hardware including ABC eGates, kiosks, biometric pods, totems, and other associated supplementary hardware. Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior led the way, awarding Secunet and SSARM a contract in October 2020 which covered Sofia (SOF), Varna (VAR), and Burgas (BOJ) airports, the installation included 20 easygates, eight easykiosks, and 66 easytowers equipped with fingerprint scanners.
But with activation repeatedly pushed back, much of this hardware, particularly in countries such as Germany, has been sitting idle for years. This could raise questions around expiring warranties and lapsed service contracts. Some agencies may look to refresh ageing systems or bring in new service providers, while vendors could use the pause to showcase their latest technology to drive awareness and further installation. IDEMIA’s multi-person capture solution, for instance, allows small groups to enrol together, dramatically reducing wait times and improving traveller throughput.
As international travel reaches new levels, a “second wave” of deployments looks increasingly likely. Several countries only installed the minimum number of units needed for compliance and may now seek to scale up capacity if they realise current infrastructure isn’t suitable in handling the ever increasing number of international travellers; especially France (handling 100 million international travellers in 2024), Germany (37 million), and the Netherlands (21 million). Expanding biometric infrastructure could reduce queues, accelerate border clearance, and allow officers to focus attention on higher-risk or vulnerable travellers.
Remote Enrolment: The Next Variable
Perhaps the biggest wild card for EU-EES hardware expansion is remote enrolment. The Travel to Europe mobile app developed by Frontex with iProov and Inverid, a Signicat Company now enables travellers to pre-enrol remotely by extracting their ePassport data and submitting facial biometric data. It’s optional for now and doesn’t yet capture fingerprints, meaning travellers must still complete an in-person step at the border checkpoint. It is early days, but uptake has been low – a week after launch it only had about 5,000 downloads in the Google Play store (figures for Apple’s App Store were not available) – however, awareness will grow over the next few months.
If widely adopted, this shift could reduce the need for on-site hardware, slowing potential expansion plans. Operators who’ve invested heavily, such as Getlink, which spent $68 million on land and building a new area for passport processing alongside the procurement of 224 IN Groupe EES kiosks, will be watching closely. Remote enrolment promises speed and convenience for travellers and earlier access to key data for border agencies, enabling risk assessments to be completed long before arrival. However, for vendors, the stakes are high. Should remote fingerprint capture become viable, an ongoing development for several industry stakeholders, including iProov, the full end-to-end enrolment process could occur entirely off-site. That would fundamentally change how airports, seaports, and land borders plan future hardware deployments.
Market Values and Spend
Measuring the value of the EU-EES ecosystem isn’t straightforward and can be a challenging exercise, but we believe it’s important to map out the current state of the market and the factors that may affect it moving forward. The Shared Biometric Matching System (sBMS) managed by eu-LISA, carries a €302 million Total Contract Value (TCV) over four years, with an optional two-year extension.
At a national level, France’s 2021 contract with IDEMIA and Sopra Steria created the CCAF system, connecting all border points and centralising biometric verification across the country. Denmark’s 2021 project, awarded to IDEMIA, Systematic, and Biometric Solutions, integrated ABC eGates, kiosks, totems, mobile units, and a national border management platform. Across Schengen area countries, we estimate national software modernisation spend at roughly €185 million to meet EU-EES standards.
Hardware deployments tell a similar story of scale:
- Pods/Totems: At the time of writing, Valour Consultancy estimates that the average value per unit of an immigration pod/totem is approximately €8,200, and with an estimated 5,045 pods/totems being deployed specifically for EU-EES, we believe total spend for this solution is €41.4 million to date.
- Immigration Kiosks: Valour Consultancy estimates that the average value per unit is roughly €28,000, and at the time of writing, with an estimated 3,201 kiosks being deployed specifically for the entry-exit system, total spend is forecasted to have reached €89.6 million.
- ABC eGates: To date, we estimate that 753 ABC eGates have been deployed for the EU-EES, with this number being lower than other hardware solutions due to widescale deployment and saturation of ABC eGates across Europe prior to the rollout of the new border system. With an estimated value of €48,000 per unit, we believe that total spending on ABC eGates for EU-EES is roughly €36.1 million.
- Supplementary Hardware: Outside of the mentioned biometric hardware, countries have also installed supplementary systems to support biometric enrolment at passport control boots and on-the-move capture. Notable examples include Greece, in 2021, contracted local systems integrator Space Hellas to install over 1,884 manual border counters across its land, sea and air borders. Alongside this, Romania, also in 2021, contracted IDEMIA to install 465 manual border counters and ordered a further 409 tablets with an estimated TCV of €5 million. We estimate total spending on supplementary biometric hardware to have reached the realm of €50 million.
Overall, hardware investment across the 29 countries is estimated to be at least €220 million, with service and maintenance contracts adding €210 million or more. Multiple companies including Amadeus, Cognitec, Dermalog, Minsait Cyber, NTT Data and Thales (amongst others) were involved in the deployment of these biometric hardware solutions. Including the supporting software, both nationally integrated systems and largescale systems like the sBMS, we estimate total EU-EES spending to date is at least €915 million.
Outlook
As EU-EES has finally been launched, although in a slower, more phased rollout, two possible futures emerge. If remote enrolment takes off, demand for physical hardware may level off. If not, border agencies will need to invest in additional ABC eGates, pods and totems, biometric enrolment kiosks and other associated biometric hardware to handle rising traveller volumes efficiently.
| Wave | Focus | Likely Outcome |
| Wave 1 (Activation) | Go-live with mixed hardware + manual capture | Long queues, optimisation phase |
| Wave 2 (Expansion/Upgrade) | Extra kiosks, newer biometrics, layout redesigns | Throughput stabilises |
| Wave 3 (Hybrid/Remote) | Widespread remote enrolment + risk-based automation | Less hardware growth; smarter borders |
Either way, the EU-EES represents a pivotal shift toward risk-based, data-driven border management that blends automation with human oversight. For vendors, the potential for further deployment is a possibility; for governments, it’s the foundation of a smarter, more secure, and more seamless border experience.
