Lasercard
Company Profile & Industry Qualifications
LaserCard Corporation is the world leader in optical memory card technology. The patented, 2.86 megabyte LaserCard® optical memory card is used in a variety of applications, including secure access, immigration, biometrics ID, vehicle registration, healthcare, and others.
LaserCard Corporation is the definitive source of optical memory cards, optical card drives, associated hardware, and software development tools. With over 14 years of experience, LaserCard Corporation provides unsurpassed expertise in areas such as:
- Optical card read/write drive technology
- Multi-technology read/write drives (Optical/Smart, Contactless Optical/Smart)
- Peripheral products for card-based application development, such as card printers, biometric verification, and card personalization systems
- Read/write drive interface software development tools
- Card artwork and manufacturing techniques
- Card enhancements such as serialization, magnetic stripes, IC chips, forensic features, micro images, Embedded Hologram personalized OVD, and barcodes
- Card security and data security techniques
As a result of the aggressive and enterprising development, marketing and sales activities of LaserCard Corporation, LaserCard optical memory cards hold a dominant world market share. To date, more than 26 million cards have been shipped, including over 22 million sold to the U.S. federal government since 1997 for use as "Green Cards" and border-security Laser Visas, approximately 3.5 million cards for equipment access control, and more than 500,000 cards for use in a rugged military environment.
LaserCard Corporation is the largest supplier of optical memory cards worldwide. Company sales for fiscal year 2004 were approximately $17 million.
LaserCard Optical Memory Card
The LaserCard optical memory card is a secure and durable data storage device. The user data capacity on the card is 2.86 megabytes with redundant Error Detection and Correction (EDAC) code. EDAC is used by optical storage devices to ensure that data will be written and read accurately even if the storage medium has scratches, fingerprints or debris on its surface. 2.86 megabytes of storage capacity can accommodate up to 1,200 pages of digital text or approximately 200 scanned pages of text.
Optical recording ensures that files and data stored on optical memory cards are secure against tampering, deletion or accidental loss. Files and data can be added or updated, but not deleted. When files are added or updated, a permanent audit trail of all access and changes made is automatically recorded on the optical media. The card is not affected by magnetic or electrostatic fields, can withstand temperatures of up to 212°F, and exhibits unsurpassed physical durability characteristics.
The LaserCard system provides the following capabilities:
- Up to 2.86 megabytes of read/write updateable data storage
- SCSI interface to host computer system
- Typical write speeds of 5.6 KB/second
- Typical read speeds of 11.2 KB/second
- Track-to-Track access times of 1.7 mseconds
The LaserCard optical memory card is the de facto world standard. This has been achieved through participation in formal standardization activities, leading edge product development, market development, and the establishment of an extensive customer base unequalled in the world. As a result, the LaserCard ISO format was chosen as the official optical memory card format by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of State, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the Government of Italy.
The LaserCard optical memory card complies with the following standards:
- Physical Characteristics for Identification Cards (ID-1, 54mm x 86mm) - ISO/IEC 7810
- Test Methods for Identification Cards - ISO/IEC 10 373-1 and 5
- Optical Memory Cards - ISO/IEC 11693 and 11694, Parts 1-4
- Coexistent Technology Cards - SC17/WG3 Task Force 1, Coexistent Technology
- Machine Readable Travel Documents - ICAO Document 9303, Part 3
- Interoperability - ICAO Technical Report on Logical Data Structures, 2003
- Identification Cards, Motor Vehicle Driver's License - ANSI Project # 1242.D
- Uniform Healthcare Identification Card - ANSI X3.284 1997
- IC Chip Cards - ISO/IEC 7816
Card Manufacturing, Security, and Counterfeit Resistance
LaserCard optical memory cards are manufactured in a custom-designed facility which has received U.S., Canadian and Italian government Industrial Security Clearance for its physical access, manufacturing and auditing procedures, and personnel.
The LaserCard production process is a combination of patented and proprietary technology. While standard credit cards and other plastic and paper laminated identification documents are regularly counterfeited and mass-produced using off-the-shelf products, the technological sophistication of an optical memory card manufacturing plant places huge technological and financial barriers in the path of counterfeiters.
These hurdles include a need for specially qualified personnel, significant investment in capital equipment, a specially equipped manufacturing facility, and a lengthy time frame for the development and refinement of card production technology.
For example, LaserCard Corporation employs a 300KVolt electron beam cured adhesive to laminate layers of polycarbonate to form the card, creating an inseparable bond. Any attempt to disassemble the card will result in the destruction of the storage medium. This E-beam device costs in excess of $1 million.
For secure ID applications, LaserCard Corporation offers additional unique features in the manufacturing process, including:
- Unique card ID information and serialization
- Unique photomask for an individual card issuer (or application)
- Micro imaging, a process of uniquely etching the optical recording area of the card with overt and covert security features
Unique among all card technologies, during card personalization, the optical memory itself can be laser etched with eye-visible personal data to uniquely match the card bearer to the data printed on the card's front surface. This secure authentication and ID verification feature, known as the Embedded Hologram personalized OVD, is present on more than 18 million LaserCard optical memory cards in circulation today.
This comprehensive set of security features makes optical memory cards the most tamper-proof, counterfeit resistant secure card solution on the market today.
Keltec
The OPTICAL MEMORY CARD [OMC]
Figure 1. - CARD PROFILE
The OMC contains a reflective optical recording medium encapsulated between transparent, protective layers.
Information is stored digitally on the card in a binary code of "1" or "0" bits that are represented by either the presence or absence of physical "spots" on the recording media. The spots are as small as 2.25 microns.
OMC's are made of polycarbonate, a rugged plastic used in jet-fighter canopies. It is estimated to be 1,000 times more durable than PVC credit cards.
Figure 2. - shows the OMC blank before further processing
An encapsulation layer protects the optical media from dust and scratches, and maintains data integrity by keeping dust particles out of focus when reading/writing with the laser beam. The encapsulation layer is over coated with an acrylic hard-coat to further protect it from surface abrasion and scratches.
The OMC has about 350 times the capacity of the 8K/Byte (64Kbit) I/C chip card and over 2,500 times the capacity of the standard 1K/Byte (8Kbit) IC chip card.
The high storage capacity allows for the addition of other applications as needs arise, without interfering with the original data stored on the card.
Card Capacity: Are 1.5 M/Byte, 4.1 M/byte and 6 M/Byte, both the 4.1 M/byte and the "Chip Ready" cards provide the most versatile card technology on the market.
Artwork and Printing: Normally these cards are plain white, standard, or custom silkscreen printed artwork. Optional Therma Print™ coating is available for desktop colour printing on surface of card.
Format: I.S.O. or security format.
Security Features: Embedded Hologram™, optical watermarks, micro imaging, preformatted ROM data, digital serialisation, and data access control.
Multi-Technology: "Chip Ready", magnetic stripe, signature panel, and laser serialisation.
Figure 3. - ADDED FEATURES Example
The card is not affected by magnetic or electrostatic fields, and can withstand temperatures of up to 100'C.
The optical recording media and multi-layer construction of the OMC provides unique security features to protect the card and the personalised data stored in the card. It employs an electron beam-cured adhesive to laminate layers of polycarbonate, creating an inseparable bond. Any attempt to delaminate the card for fraudulent purpose results in visible tamper evidence and destruction of the media.
The OMC can include security printing and inks, micro imaging (Optical Watermark STM), personalised laser-encoded images (Embedded Holographic MTM), holographic overlays, laser-engraved barcodes, and other overt and covert features.
The OMC utilises unalterable Write Once Read Many (WORM) optical recording to encode visible image files or digital files onto the optical media. Error Detection and Correction (EDAC) code is used to ensure that data will be written and read accurately, even if the storage medium has scratches, fingerprints or debris (dust) on its surface.
Recorded data is non-erasable and any attempt to alter it will result in a clear audit trail or destruction of the card.
Data access speed has been demonstrated to take less than 5 seconds to biometrically verify the cardholder's identity against the biometric template recorded on the optical media of the card. A colour photograph of the cardholder (approximately 10Kbytes, compressed) is simultaneously read and displayed.
The challenge of manufacturing the card places huge technological and financial barriers in the path of counterfeiters. This basic investment can be measured in many millions of dollars and several years of intensive effort.
During the OMC manufacturing process, text, line art, grey scale images and multi-reflectivity images are engineered into the optical media at a resolution of approximately 12,000dpi. The optical media is then laminated between layers of polycarbonate to form the finished card stock.
An Optical Watermark can be overwritten with a laser-encoded image. The result is the interlocking of a pre-formatted document security feature with a personalisation security feature.
Optical watermarks and micro optical images protect the card against counterfeiting by providing permanent, unalterable and counterfeit-resistance verification and authentication of the card stock.
The resolution of the micro optical images and Optical Watermark is 4 times higher than current security printing techniques and therefore extremely difficult to simulate. The micro optical images cannot be removed from the reflective optical WORM media nor can they be duplicated or simulated by photocopying, photography or scanning.
Figure 4. - ADDED FEATURES Example
Colour dye sublimation printing can be removed with solvents or abrasives, without damaging the card stock. Fraudulent information can then be reprinted on the card surface. Holograms can provide a measure of protection from fraud, but they too can be and have been counterfeited. This will render a supposedly high security card open to widespread counterfeiting.
The solution to this most basic of security problems is to ensure that the printed, eye-readable information is protected against counterfeiting, tampering and fraud. The OMC utilises the Embedded Hologram to verify the thermally printed information by providing duplicate images and information in the optical media that is permanent, unalterable and highly counterfeit-resistant.
Figure 5. - Embedded Hologram Image
The Embedded Hologram is a personalised image, laser-encoded into the optical media substrate of the OMC. It appears as a visible diffraction pattern image that is eye-readable under a variety of lighting conditions. It is created from the identical image and text files used to print and personalise the card. Any pattern, including small photographs, text, or official seals, can be used to create an Embedded Hologram image.
The Embedded Hologram can also incorporate covert machine-readable verification and authentication by interleaving the digital data version of the Embedded Hologram within the visible Embedded Hologram image. There is sufficient secure capacity on the card to include several types of biometric templates, high-resolution fingerprint images, colour photographs and data files.
Because the Embedded Hologram is encoded into optical WORM media and has a two-dimensional appearance, conventional secure printing, copying and holographic imaging techniques cannot simulate it. The printed personalised data on the card is verified to be authentic if it is identical to the visual information contained in the personalized Embedded Hologram.
Figure 6. - Embedded Hologram Image
First level visual verification is secure and accurate, while the second level machine-readable authentication and verification is secure, rapid and convenient.
Other Applications
Automated Manifest Systems - U.S. Department of Defence Automated Manifest System (AMS). Is a computerised receiving and supply management system linked to the DoD wholesale purchasing system, providing real-time access to manifest Information.
The AMS uses the OMC to store a database of all the shipping information for each item in a container, and the card accompanies the container. The database on the card serves as the unprocessed receipts for the shipment. Items are then drawn from the container using bar code readers to scan the product labels, reconciling the physical count against the automated manifest quantities. This information is used to automatically generate discrepancy reports.
The need for the card-based AMS was spurred by the rapid deployment of over 500,000 troops to the Persian Gulf in 1990 for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, when over 40,000 shipping containers and 250,000 air pallets were shipped in a seven-month period. Using this card eliminated the traditional paper manifest system that resulted in backlogs, causing severe supply problems, as over 25,000 containers had to be opened to determine the contents, making supplies subject to loss and shortages.
Figure 7. - Manifest Card
Employment or Employee Tracking Card - The ability to provide the most capable and efficient means of employee tracking. This card will manage all aspects of site security and other requirements. They can carry thousands of transactions such as:
- gate entries/exits;
- medical records;
- security information;
- Human Resource; and much more on a compact personal card.
They provide 1,000x the memory, 30x the update speed; and are far better for security and reliability than the so-called smart or chip cards.
All of the information on the card can be strongly encrypted using recognised government approved methods to prevent fraudulent use or tampering.
Figure 8. - Employee All-In-One
