Are you looking for a card that allows door activation or can login to a networked computer? You’ll need a card with embedded information encoded inside, this is known as an HID proximity card. With an access card system like this, reports can be generated to provide specific details as to which card holders have attempted access and which cards have activated entry.

An HID proximity card has the capability within an access system to activate a door or log someone into a computer network. The card does not however have the capability of accessing an area within itself. The card within the framework of an access system will provide security and appropriate access to a controlled area.

This complete access system is able to function as a security officer that allows card holders into specific secured doors at certain dates and times. This is because the card is combined with a card reader, access control panel and a computer. 

To identify a card holder, the card holds an embedded binary code, which is a sequence of ones and zeros where a specific sequence is used. The coding format is transmitted from the card reader to the control panel for deciphering. The card may or may not have additional code embedded in the card. The access control panel normally does not use extra coding, but reviews the formatted code utilized in the system.

When the data is received by the controller, it begins the steps of verifying if the cardholder has access to the building. The length of the data string is analyzed prior to proceeding. If the format is different, the control panel will not be able to process the request. Once the format is verified, the controller can then check the facility code and site code for a match. If this is true, the controller moves ahead to match the card number. A matching card number will move the analysis forward. The information is then reviewed to see if the card holder has authorization to access during the date and time the access request is made. If so, the lock relay will activate and the door or network will unlock for access.

Access is denied if the HID proximity card is not able to successfully move through the above steps. The system may provide a specific response from the controller or there may not be any response at all.

The software application processing authentication transactions can be accessed by authorized personnel to updated cardholder information, configure hardware and to generate reports of access attempts and successes.

for more information: http://news.safecardid.com/2011/hid-access-cards-how-they-work?

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“Want to provide a secure and attractive solution for your citizens, staff, members or drivers to prove their identity?”

Drivers license, National ID, Voter Registration, Gun license, Proof-of-Age card, and Employee ID are all examples of real world ID card applications, and they all have one thing in common: They must be completely protected against forgery.

An ID card that can be forged is worse than no ID card at all, because anyone with the basic skills, or the cash, can rapidly obtain a counterfeit version. The number of web sites offering fake US drivers’ licenses is a testament to that problem.

The Magicard printer family contains everything you need to create colorful, practical, ID cards and ID badges for every application, plus it offers complete protection against counterfeiting through the use of either a hologram laminate, or by the use of Ultra’s unique, low cost, HoloKote; technology.

ID Card Design
For any photo ID application, getting the initial card design right is essential, and one of the most important factors is ensuring that the portrait is large enough to be identified clearly in the circumstances in which the card is to be used.

For “hand held” identification applications like a drivers license, portraits of around one inch square are likely to be adequate, but if viewing at a distance, or in poor light is required, as with airport photo ID badges for example, then portraits should be as large as practicable : 2 inches square will work reliably at viewing distances of up to fifteen feet, for example.

Another design issue is whether to use a “portrait” or “landscape” format, with “portrait” orientation offering advantages for photo ID badge applications, and “landscape” being preferred for cards, which are carried in a purse or pocket.

The design of content is very dependent on the individual application, and any kind of background design, corporate logo, and textual information can of course be accommodated.

For clear crisp text and Barcodes, the use of the black resin, or K panel, is advisable, although many card designs use a mixture of large “color” text with smaller “black resin” data.

If there is more data than can conveniently fit on one side of a CR-80 card, or which is not normally required for public display, then this can be printed on the reverse of the card using the Magicard Avalon Duo or Tango duplex printers. The most economic dual sided card would use full color and black resin on the front, with black resin only on the reverse. Our LC8 six panel dye ribbon has an YMCKOK arrangement for exactly this application, printing 300 dual-sided cards per roll.

It is also possible to put full color and black resin on both sides of the card, using the Avalon Duo or Tango printer and two sets of LC1 YMCKO dye ribbon panels. This approach is more costly however, giving 175 double sided cards per roll of dye ribbon.

Card Security & Protection
With the card layout and usage determined, the subject of physical protection and the prevention of counterfeiting becomes the next priority.

Questions such as:

■How will the card be carried/used?
■Will the card suffer wear through being physically “swiped” through a reader?
■What card lifetime do we require?
■What level of security protection do we need?
For long life cards (at least 5 years) which will be carried everyday in a purse or pocket, and which must also offer the highest level of tamper-proofing and counterfeit protection (e.g. drivers licenses) the only solution is to use the Tango +L Integrated Printer & Laminator to apply a thick polyester laminate.

Cards produced in this way are very well protected against physical wear and tampering, and the optional optical security device will be very effective in preventing attempts to produce realistic copies.

If the card is mainly going to be worn as a photo id badge, or if a shorter lifetime is acceptable then Ultra’s patented HoloKote technology will provide adequate physical protection, together with complete protection against forgery, at zero cost in consumables.

The capital cost is also zero if the built-in “Ultra Secure” logo included in the Rio and the Tango printers can provide adequate security protection, although the use of a unique,”custom” logo is recommended.

The use of a Custom Key security logo actually increases the security protection to better thanthat provided by a custom laminate, yet it still maintains the zero consumable cost and entails only the very low start-up cost and turn around time of Ultra’s unique Custom Key solution.

HoloKote with Custom Key is more secure than an laminate solution because of the ease of safeguarding the authentication device. Even a few panels of hologram laminate left on a roll for disposal could be retrieved from the garbage and used to produce fully authenticated fake cards. With HoloKote however, the authentication device is a single encrypted electronic key which cannot be duplicated and which is easily accounted for and safeguarded by locking it in the office safe when not in use.

HoloKote; puts a daylight visible frosted security logo over the entire face of the card, which makes it ideal for cards which are carried or worn as badges.

To make the security logo more obvious at distances of up to 15 feet, the HoloKote; system can be used with Ultra’s HoloPatch; card stock which highlights one of the security logos with a gold, superdiffuser patch.

Whatever your ID card needs, Ultra’s Magicard range has the solution.

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Earth-friendly plastic. The future is now.

ABnote is proud to introduce three new plastic cards into their GreenLineTM suite of environmentally friendly products.

Plastic cards which are manufactured from corn, an abundant and annually renewable resource,
Non magnetic stripe cards which are made from 100% recycled plastic, and
Biodegradable and compostable cards made from plants such as alfalfa, beets, corn, potato skins, switch grass and wheat.
ABnote – leading the way in the greening of the plastic card industry.

Corn plastic is manufactured from corn, an abundant and annually renewable resource. Corn plastic can be disposed of in a more earth-friendly method, such as incineration, commercial composting, or mechanical recycling, without Carbon Dioxide emissions.

CornCard™ is virtually identical in look and feel to traditional credit cards, and provide all the same convenience and functionality. ABnote uses the same high quality printing and personalisation on all their plastics, corn or traditional.

CornCard™ is perfect for gift card programs, specialty and promotional cards and any short life cards.

The AB RecycledCard™ is another alternative to standard plastic cards. It is virtually identical to traditional plastic cards in look and feel, offers the same reliability and functionality, and costs the same. If it’s speckled and white, it’s the AB RecycledCard™ made exclusively from Earthworks™ recycled plastics. It’s manufactured with the same high quality printing and personalisation processes used for our traditional plastic cards. Non magnetic stripe products are made from 100% recycled plastic. Magnetic Stripe products are made from 88% recycled plastic.

The AB RecycledCard™ is ideal for Membership, Loyalty, Hotel Key Cards, Casino Players’ Cards, Promotional Cards, Specialty Cards & Signs, Direct Mail Programs, and Gift Cards.

The AB Biodegradable Card™ is a cutting edge biodegradable and compostable material, with a similar look and feel to traditional plastic. The new material is industrial compostable according to international standards. The material composts in a period of 180 days or less and breaks down into water, biomass and CO2 in a professionally managed industrial composting facility. While not yet available in all areas, industrial composting facilities are expected to become more prevalent in the future.

In addition to being biodegradable, the AB Biodegradable Card™ is made from plants such as alfalfa, beets, corn, potato skins, switch grass and wheat. The material is also produced using 100% renewable energy.

The AB Biodegradable Card has multiple features that provide customers with a unique and exciting way to help the environment.

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About Us
Creation of Value for the Future – NiSCA’s Continuing Challenge – Giving our customers what they want – quality assurance

Continuing with R&D to reliably meet market demands. NiSCA constantly strives for the clear goal of meeting the market demands in its ventures into new technologies. No matter how satisfying a project may be to our engineers, it is the market that ultimately passes judgment on its value. It is precisely for this reason that we are ready to boldly challenge the perceived limits of current engineering when it may yield what our customers need. This stance of ours will not change. NiSCA is also working to further raise the level of professionalism of each of its engineers, with the goal of “one achievement per person.”

NiSCA Corporation was established in 1960 and today has over 830 employees in four locations. Our motto of “Creation of Value for the Future” is evident in its investments for future success:

•A reinforced quality assurance program through ISO9001 certification. In January 1995, NiSCA received ISO 9001 certification, an international standard for quality assurance. Our QA program has received recognition on an international level. In addition to our customers in Japan, we are striving to offer products which will satisfy our overseas customers as well, through reliable quality extending from all stages from design through after-sale service.
•An environmental conscience view through ISO 14001 certification. In this irreplaceable world in which we live is now undergoing environmental turmoil, even as science and technology continue to surge forward. As a corporation contributing to society with the motto of “creation of value for the future” NiSCA has received, in September 1999, international ISO 14001 certification for our environmental management system. Specifically, we have begun making efforts to use power and water more efficiently, appropriately reducing such waste as building materials and scrap paper, and other similar activities. While each of these is in itself is insignificant, we are confident that they will all add up to have a substantial effect. All of us at NiSCA are committed to working together as a whole, in the same spirit of accepting challenges that has served us well in R&D, to grappling with this problem.
Since the NiSCA Plastic Card printer’s introduction into the marketplace in 1994, NiSCA printers have been producing high quality full color plastic cards for Corporations, Education, and Government organizations. With thousands of hard working printers and hundreds of loyal Dealers, VAR’s, and System Integrators around the world, NiSCA continues to be the leader in the Identification Card Printing market place.

NiSCA Corporation offers a broad product line from plastic card printers to document scanning systems to paper handing systems for the photocopier industry. The company’s ability to manufacture many of its required components is critical to our success in controlling quality and reliability in our product offering. NiSCA technological leadership is obvious market wide:

1.delivered the first dual sided printer, 1994
2.delivered the first easily changeable ribbon cassette, 1994
3.delivered the first self-aligning print head, 1996
4.delivered the first modular lamination unit, 1996
5.delivered the smallest dual printing and laminating system, 2000
NiSCA plastic card printers are sold through the Team NiSCA sales organization, located in Somerset NJ USA. The facility in Somerset provides sales, stocking and warranty services for NiSCA products sold globally.

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ID photo cards are certainly nothing new in our hustle-bustle world, but there was a time when they were limited mostly to conventions, big parties, and high-security government facilities. Nowadays identification photo cards are common not only in these environments, but in most workplaces and even hospitals and schools as well. Whether you’re a student or employee, if you’re not carrying around a plastic security photo cards with your name and photo on it, you’re unlikely to gain access to where you want to go. These little custom name photo cards that we sometimes take for granted, offer us a form of security which has become critical in a world where personal safety and wellbeing is taken very seriously.

Photo ID cards can contain your logo, a black and white or colorful photo and variable text. It makes you or your staff looking more professional as well as help to control public access on location. Digital printing, photos are clearer, colour is more durable compared with thermal printer.
www.idsolutions.co.nz

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New HoloKote FLEX™ Watermark – Flexible Visual Security Without the Cost
Magicard’s HoloKote FLEX takes ID card security to a higher level. Your custom watermark can be as large or small as you want it.

Your logo is programmed into a HoloKote FLEX Custom Key, a secure encrypted memory card which plugs into your Magicard Rio 2e, Tango 2e, or Tango +L printer.
The key benefits of HoloKote FLEX are:
Custom visual security without the high cost and long lead time of special holographic laminate or UV films. Your Magicard printer does the job, placing the watermark on your card using standard consumable ribbons.

No ongoing additional printing costs. A modest one-time set up charge gets you a custom HoloKote FLEX key within days, holding your encrypted logo. That’s it. You can then print as many cards as you want with your custom design.

Secure – your design is guaranteed to be unique.

“HoloKote FLEX is an enhancement of the popular HoloKote watermark security that thousands of Magicard customers have used to secure their ID cards.” said Andy Matko, Magicard Business Manager. “While the legendary HoloKote, available only on Magicard printers, uses a repeat pattern on the card, HoloKote FLEX is …. Flexible! It offers an excellent alternative to costly holographic laminates and is truly secure because your HoloKote FLEX logo cannot be copied.”

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What do you need from your ID card?

Designs can incorporate your company’s logo and colours, include a title, signature, employee number, return address, in fact the only limitation as far as card design is concerned is one of imagination.

Primary Information
When you create an ID card you need to have at least the 3 basics on the front of your card

• Name so people can identify you
• Photo so people can recognize you
• Company name/logo so people know what company you work for

 Secondary Information

• Job title
• ID number
• Expiry
• Birth date
• Barcode
• Holder

ID Card advanded
back of the card

Back of card information

• Signature panel
• Magnetic stripe
• Bulk text

ID Cards can be colour coded to easily identify different departments of a company.

If you need your card to be tamper proof and secure options such as:

• Holographic Overlaminate which is imbedded on the surface of the overlaminate and printed on to the card to reduce the possibility of successful card reproduction and enhances fraud protection.
• ID Solutions Unique Security Overprint
  The counterfeiting or creation of fake ID cards has never been easier, but now, thanks to I.D.Solutions Secure Card counterfeiting card protection feature, an affordable solution is available. Protection from forgery is simple and dependable with I.D.Solutions Secure Card .This unique security feature incorporates a reflecting underlay on the card during the manufacturing process. Most cards with secure features are generic and freely available to the general public.
  I.D.Solutions Secure cards are a unique design and only available through ID Solutions.

Creating ID Cards

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