About Us
Identification and more
We offer a simple solution for your ID card needs. Design the card online using one of our templates. Enter the data. Upload the photo. Receive a high quality plastic ID card by mail.
We are a small company focused on small companies needs. In our experience large corporations do well in sales and manufacturing while leaving room for smaller ventures in the area of services. ID badges are all we do. Our ultimate goal is the satisfaction of every customer regardless of the order size.
Online ID card management system
Our system provides the Enterprise class management solution for all your ID card needs. All tasks are performed from a single web interface. ID cards created in our system are securely stored in a database. You can easily order duplicates, update photo, name or title.
No need for card printer
Small card printers have mixed reviews mostly due to reliability and printing quality. PVC card printing process, based on thermo sublimation technology is highly sensitive to dust and other contamination carried over the air. Only top of the line printers guarantee high quality results. We use state of the art Fargo printers for manufacturing id cards for your needs.
Beyond identification
Current state of technology allows for integrating various forms of access into employee id badge. Photo id card integrated with proximity card offers physical identification, logical and physical access. Each company and public institution has various physical access limitations. This could be server room, archive, space restricted for certain department or even office supplies storage. Logical access control remained ahead of physical address control for a long time as computer and networking infrastructure technology development was on the fast lane in past 20 years. Recent progress in proximity ID card readers industry has opened an option for integrating all levels of access. Employee badge can integrate the following functions:
- accessing building lobby
- enter company premises main area
- access department specific space
- log in to a computer, scanner or fax
- access file shares and other network resources
- authenticate to VPN and other remote connectivity solution
- physical identification
- secondary authentication (in addition to password, fingerprint or SSL certificate)
- employee attendance monitoring
- corporate resources access logging
ID card printing process
PVC card printers use heat to apply dye onto ID card surface. Dye is carried on cellophane foil. When print head presses the foil against surface of the id card precisely applied heat evaporates dye which is then diffused onto card surface creating an image. The process is called dye-sublimation as the printing agent is being transformed from solid to gas state with liquid state skipped. The technology was introduced in early 1990s and was used mostly in medical imaging and commercial printing due to high cost. Primary advantage of dye-sublimation printing is continuous tone; this feature helps printed image look natural, it gives the impression of chemically developed photograph. Another advantage of dye sublimation technology is image durability. Plastic ID cards are extremely wear resistant and so is the image on it. High quality ID card dye sublimation printers remain expensive due to high cost of manufacturing. Printing process is sensitive for contamination and careful handling of equipment is required. Used ribbon cartridges need to be securely recycled as printed image of the ID card can be read from used cartridge. In consumer segment dye sublimation printers are used in photo development kiosks that can be found in many retail sale locations.
ID access cards
Imagine not that long ago driver’s license had no photo on it and company employees were using paper punch time cards. Words like electronic chip or biometrics sounded more like space science than something that fits your wallet. New security needs as well as technology advance resulted in a revolution of public, private and corporate identification. ID card incorporated widely used plastic credit card format. PVC material gave the card durability while magnetic strip allowed for data encoding. Soon enough plastic card industry found out the differences in needs between corporate ID card and credit card. When compared to worldwide retail sales industry using credit cards corporate environment allows for quicker accommodation of new technology. First improvement in ID card data encoding came again from retail sales industry. A bar code, similar to the one that every product in the supermarket carries was put on the card. This new feature allowed for non-contact, optical, card data information reading; not only faster process but also less stress put on the card. Bar codes are still widely used in Government identification like driver’s licenses and state ID cards. Using bar code scanner is a simple process for experienced operator but ordinary user might experience difficulties scanning a barcode. Despite the advance in optical scanning technologies bar code put against the scanner does not always read. You can see this a lot in self checkout lanes at your local supermarket. It became clear that corporate environment needed another solution.
Proximity ID cards use different technology to transfer data than magnetic stripe or barcode. When proximity card is presented against the reader (usually within 3 inches) data stored on a built-in chip is being transmitted using radio frequency. How ID card, thin as credit card can generate radio waves? The technology is called resonant energy transfer; when ID card is placed in the magnetic field of the reader a built in coil generates electric power to read the chip, then the same coil is being used as RF antenna to transmit the data to the reader. Older cards use 125kHz range while newer, often referred as radio frequency id cards (RFID) or contactless smartcards use 13.56MHz. Higher frequency allows for more bandwidth in data transfer. Proximity card overcomes all the issues that magnetic stripe and barcode ID cards suffered from; it allows for contactless read and doesn’t need to be placed against the reader under certain angle like barcode card in order to be read. Convenience in use is further improved by the ability to read the card in the wallet, pocket, pouch or even a purse. HID is the industry leader in manufacturing proximity cards, reading equipment and integration services.
