Markets : Identity Cards
ID Data is the largest supplier of smart cards to the UK Government and has been in this position for over five years. The company is UK owned and has a highly secure manufacturing plant in Petersfield, Hampshire, at which it produces Visa and MasterCard bank cards as well as PIN mailers. Due to the high levels of security demanded, all staff are police checked on an annual basis, the premises are very secure with internal CCTV monitoring, and there are systems in place to ensure that the location of all employees can be tracked on a room to room basis.
ID Data can therefore receive data for the production of identity cards in a highly secure environment and has the physical, logical and human security in place to manufacture the National ID card. Further, no data needs to leave the country (an issue specifically raised by the Home Office) and there are no data communications links to public networks or to other offices outside the UK.
ID Data is also able to handle high volume card production and fulfilment. Two of the UK’s largest card schemes, the Nectar Card and the Tesco Clubcard are manufactured and despatched to individuals in the UK. These two card schemes alone account for around 50 million cards issued to date. The company could, in fact, fulfil the UK’s total requirement for ID cards within one year.
ID Data also has a teaming agreement with LaserCard to produce its products in the UK. LaserCards provide a highly secure, tamper-proof card that can store significant amounts of data such as biometrics and photos. The card has a proven track record in the US where it is used for the Green Card and for the US/Mexico border control. It is also used by the Canadian Government for the Permanent Residents Card issued to all immigrants who come to reside in Canada. This allows for local authentication of cards which, in appropriate circumstances, greatly accelerates the processing of citizens’ IDs.
More recently this technology has been adopted by the Italian Government for its national ID card project and one as yet un-named middle-east company has adopted it yet again for a national ID card roll-out.
ID Data is therefore perfectly positioned to make a significant contribution to National Identity Card programmes. To find out more ID Data's capabilities in this field, click here.