Innovating for volume card personalization
Integration of laser sources and optical technologies for plastic cards and passports with polycarbonate data-pages is seeing further innovation for mid-high volume card personalization using laser technology. The new concept from desktop and central issuance laser systems supplier, Ixla, is aimed at the centralized card and ePassport personalization and issuance segment. Equipped with laser technology, the compact IXLA XP24 JET System provides a footprint for ergonomic working and optimum user friendliness personalizing up 800 cards per hour. Using the latest technology and knowledge standards, the system’s modular design offers straightforward system integration for onsite upgrade capabilities and maintenance. The system comes with the combined technology of laser and ink-jet printers, as well as automatic feeding of multiple booklets. It supports all security criteria with a contactless chip module, MLI and machine readable features. IXLA owns and updates the internal technological modules, the transport electro-mechanics, the software and the hardware for the laser engraving application, representing a strong technological alliance.
NFC payment ring powered by contactless
Whether at the beach, on the daily jog, or at the gym: from now on, everyone can carry money discreetly on the body, according to the developers of a newly introduced EMVCo compliant payment ring. The product, from NFC Ring, is based on a contactless security chip from Infineon Technologies. The tiny, water-proof smart wearable works like a contactless payment card. Users can pay by simply holding their finger with the ring closely to any EMVCo contactless-enabled payment terminal. The ring uses NFC (Near Field Communication) technology to communicate data over short distances of a few centimeters. NFC Ring’s contactless system developers have built the payment finger ring with a security chip and passive contactless antenna. The small surface area and dimension as well as the shape of the ring were not the only hurdle they had to overcome. The absence of a battery with smart wearables and contactless data transmission without taking the wearable off the finger make contactless transactions more difficult, too. However, the developers say they have overcome all these challenges, due to the energy-efficient payment security chip, which communicates with the terminal via its tiny passive antenna, triggers the secured payment and does cryptographic processing. It also complies with timing requirements of a few milliseconds whilst working at a distance of up to 4cm from a reader.
Thin inlay brings security to passport polycarbonate datapage
Smart Packaging Solutions (SPS) has introduced one of the thinnest inlays that expand into the hinge of a passport bringing new security features by embedding a specific image for each government while making the assembly easier for passport manufacturers. The hinge inlay can embark a Customized Hinge Image (CHI™), a technology consisting in defining a specific hinge design for each passport issuer. For instance, a national symbol, an acronym or a specific mark can be part of the hinge design making it extremely difficult for a fraudster to reproduce. When the passport is controlled, a CHI can easily be verified by transparency, just by exposing the card in front of a light, like a watermark in a paper. In addition, as the hinge inlay is extremely thin, under 40 µm, its lamination with the other layers in a passport datapage gives a thinner datapage. For instance, thanks to SPS hinge inlay thinness, the whole datapage of a non-electronic passport is only 400 µm while the datapage of an electronic passport is between 650 and 800 µm depending on the security features.In case of an ePassport, the hinge inlay already includes the antenna, which is coupled with the chip by induction through SPS EBooster technology.