Published: March 15, 2010

James Bond-like facial- and voice-recognition programs -- cheaper than humans -- could kill the need for the uniformed doorman guarding city buildings, one security firm says.

"Imagine walking into your building -- and you are the key," said Alon Alexander of Kent Security Services, a provider of "virtual doorman" services.

Hundreds of buildings around the city are already being monitored with video cameras and audio communication instead of live doormen, according to some estimates. But Kent's addition of scanning technology, called biometrics, would take the computerized entry system further.

And the economics of man versus machine could loom large in current talks between building owners and 30,000 human doormen whose contracts expire on April 20.

Here's how the new door would work:

As soon as a tenant walks to the door of his building, a camera snaps 40 pictures of him per second and compares the images with those it has on file. If a match is found, the tenant is allowed in.

Otherwise, there's a curt greeting and the query: "Do you live in the building?" The person states his name and where he is headed, and the computer employs voice recognition that includes an emotion detector.

If the computer recognizes the voice, the person is let in. If it doesn't, central security staffers can check by phone.

Still, "no one has seen this in action yet," Alexander conceded.

He said the biometric door costs $15,000. Doormen make $40,000 a year, according to their union, 32BJ SEIU.

But "there's no replacing people with machines and maintaining the same professional service for security," argued union spokesman Matt Nerzig.

And some things money can't buy, doormen insist.

"Humans don't malfunction as often as computers do," noted Mike Zarowny, 53, a doorman at Vesta 17 in Chelsea.

West Village doorman Jamel Salty, 64, said, "A computer is not going to help tenants carry their bags."