Get Smart About Badges
Credentialing Solutions Meet Varying Public Venue Needs

By Kelly M. Teal

The U.S. Open is set for late August, with hundreds of fans expected to attend alongside competitors, staff, media and vendors.

Fargo’s equipment being used to badge a new employee.

For the United States Tennis Association confirming each person’s access rights is of the utmost importance, and the organization, for the 11th consecutive year, is counting on New York-based Idesco Corp. to provide badging for the tournament. Idesco says employees will start preparing the card layout, database and badge materials in early May.

Company officials say oversized badges will help security personnel more easily identify wearers.

Idesco will embed a hologram onto the card and add other security features to make the badge virtually impervious to tampering.

About 20,000 people are expected to be involved with the tournament, and Idesco assures all will be badged for the two-week event.

Fargo’s cards tell security personnel who’s behind the scenes.

The type of credentialing technology to use when badging employees, visitors, patrons or contractors depends on a venue’s environment and the entrance rights a person will need. Some sites, such as water parks, require only basic classification, while others, such as high-security towers, call for stored biometric information and access permissions.

Companies and venues want to make the best use of their money while providing appropriate security. Or, as Jack Graves, marketing manager for DSX Access Systems Inc., puts it: “Any security/credential application and its set of protocols must enhance the effectiveness of security while also being sensible/realistic operationally and economically affordable.”

DSX, based in Dallas, integrates credentialing applications into its access control software.

In sharp contrast to easily counterfeited film-based ID cards, today’s credentialing solutions incorporate digital technology and many work with physical and computer access control systems “The Polaroid system can be integrated with virtually any technology,” says Audrey White, worldwide senior marketing manager, for Polaroid Corp.’s Commercial ID Systems division, offering one example. “For venue security, customers might add on such technologies or accessories as smart card encoders/readers, magnetic stripe encoding/readers, and biometric accessories such as signature tablets.”

Polaroid also sells a verification system that lets venues verify customer or attendee identification against a database, White adds.

Which Option is Right for You?

Entertainment venues such as museums, amusement parks and sports stadiums essentially have the same credentialing needs, says Fargo Electronics’ Director of Public Relations Sharon Steinhoff- Smith. She explains they all need to identify employees, provide access to authorized-only areas, track employee time and attendance and offer branding value in a colorful, professional-looking card.

“Museums and amusement parks will find added value where they can print bright, colorful season passes and event tickets; personalize membership cards with guests’ names and frequent visitor numbers;

and provide VIP cards that allow access to guest amenity areas, charge purchases in retail outlets and restaurants and rack up loyalty points,”

she notes. “Sports venues, with added concerns about security of highprofile athletes, may focus more on visual identification — knowing instantly whether someone on the field or in the locker room belongs there (or doesn’t). This may be accomplished through oversized badges with large photos that are easy to see at a distance.”

Karl Zeigler, president of The IRIS Companies Ltd., says what is acceptable “varies from venue to venue and it is both the facility’s and the vendor’s responsibility to find the best overall solution.” He explains that, while long-term credentials cost more to issue, “the venue will experience a lower overcall cost in both materials and personnel labor if the credential is used over a long period of time. The key to a good short term or ‘game day’ credential is finding a low cost of issuance with an acceptable level of security.”

DSX’s Graves says photo ID badges should be any venue’s minimum credentialing requirements. Consideration should be given to the separate or combined use of proximity card (those containing an antenna with microchip and requiring no contact with the reader) and/or biometric technologies, he says.

“In a museum there may be a strong role for the use of biometrics and/or proximity access technology to secure expensive assets and on-loan holdings. Access to the most sensitive areas requiring enhanced levels of security could utilize a biometrics device in conjunction with a photo ID smart card that can store the biometric template information on the card,” he says.

He says amusement parks and sports venues should require photo ID badges and use additional technologies as appropriate for security, insurance and liability exposure needs. “Permanent credentials are very feasible and should be mandatory on this level,” he says.

Graves also speaks to the importance of identifying event performers, staff and contract employees, who often work on a temporary basis. “Nobody in this group should have recurring facility access without photo credentials,” he emphasizes. “Even if the contract worker or delivery person doesn’t enter past the delivery dock, there should be a written record of the person’s identity and on-site history. If a photo ID is not issued, there should at least be a digital photo of each person that can be instantly accessed at the security post work station.”

The application also informs the decision to use permanent or temporary materials. “For short-term, low-security applications, temporary badges are adequate,” Steinhoff- Smith says. “Depending on the level of security needed, temporary badges can be produced with cheaper materials, since they will not have to withstand the wear and tear of everyday, long-term use. Being cheaper cards, they often don’t have technology built in, such as a magnetic stripe or computer chip, so they have less functionality — usually only visual ID — than a permanent card that can provide visual ID, access control and time tracking.”

Fargo offers three different card identity systems that address permanent or temporary credentialing needs. Steinhoff-Smith says those systems are high-definition printing, which does reverse image; traditional direct-to-card printing, which does dyesublimation; and inkjet cardjet printing technology that personalizes plastic identification cards with digital images, text, lamination and electronically encoded information. She says some of the advantages to digital printing include low cost per card, single-step printing, and integrated magnetic stripe, bar code or smart card encoding.

Idesco’s Director of Marketing Joel Hershkowitz says his company supplies venues such as amusement parks and water parks with wristbands and waterproof IDs, adding that demand has “exploded” for both permanent and temporary credentials.

“Visitors to many office buildings in this area are receiving a temporary ID badge that not only identifies a person but often includes the date and time the badge will expire, so they cannot remain in the building after expiration,” he says. “Temporary IDs offer the advantage of having control over ‘day in, day out’ visitors. Making the badges quickly can leave them wanting as far as being tamperresistant.”

Jennifer Sylvestre, marketing communications manager for card printer manufacturer Zebra Technologies Corp., cautions users not to “end up with an over-featured card printer that is too complex and too expensive for the job.” She says generally smaller organizations need lower-cost units offering “exceptional ease-of-use,” and larger companies want high reliability, advanced security features and immediate availability.

Sylvestre recommends certain technologies be used with digital printers to prevent counterfeiting, alteration or duplication.

First, she says it is important to use multiple security images or holograms. “One security image alone increases the difficulty of counterfeiting; two makes it at least twice as hard,” she says. “The holographic image lamination process also provides a very richlooking card. Multiple screenings of the same photograph increase integrity.”

Where Is Technology Headed?

Technology continues to evolve, from digital-only applications to biometrics, RFID and contactless smart cards.

GE Security’s Product Marketing Manager Randall Provoost says, “contactless smart cards will replace proximity and the other legacy credential technologies over the next three to five years.”

This is a positive evolution, he says, since the technology proves ideal for physical and network rights access control. “Because ID credentials and readers are typically exposed to the elements and have high usage, this sealed contactless technology prevents damage when cards and readers are exposed to dirt, water, cold and other harsh environments,” he explains. “With no mechanical read heads or moving parts, maintenance costs are minimized. Finally, with read ranges extending beyond a foot, contactless smart cards offer handsfree access.”

Provoost emphasizes that, when organizations implement contactless smart cards, certain standards must be present. “Close coupled contactless smart cards – ISO 10365 — operate with the card just about touching the reader, similar to most proximity readers,” he says. “That’s so the reader can transmit much power into the card to run a very powerful microprocessor. With more recent developments, that’s no longer needed and most integrators will advise you to use one of the other contactless smart card technologies.”

Those technologies are ISO 14443A (sometimes called Mifare) cards that operate from zero to four inches, and ISO 15693 cards — recommended by most integrators — that operate from zero to 39 inches. However, most readers created for ISO 15693 cards hold the distance at 14 inches, which Provoost terms “comfortable for the user and assuring a positive read.”

Provoost advises organizations considering contactless smart cards beware of proprietary technologies, to get the most use for their money, and to make sure their current security infrastructure either can accommodate contactless smart cards or be upgraded to handle the technology.

Another trend is consolidation of physical access control and IT security into one device, says Aaron Zitzer, solutions marketing manager for ActivCard, which embeds smart chip technology into plastic cards, allowing users not only physical, but computer, access control. “The types of credentials we’re replacing are passwords and things like that,” Zitzer says. “Passwords offer pretty weak security, but there’s also a high cost associated with passwords, such as forgetting them and getting locked out.”

This works by creating a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) that writes digital certificates for logging on to a computer, ensures secure remote access, and encrypts and signs e-mail. “PKI is starting to catch on as the cost comes down and organizations recognize the need for increased security,” he says, adding that Microsoft Corp. now includes PKI as part of its new servers, so the cost of infrastructure essentially is included when purchasing Microsoft technology.

And on the wireless front, The IRIS Companies recently developed applications that acquire photos and other data via a wireless hand-held PC. “Many venues have requested these features and we expect these leading-edge technologies will create a level of excitement with many venues,” Zeigler says.

What is the ROI?

Deploying credentialing across an organization likely will cost a lot of money upfront, but companies contend the investment is worthwhile because it ultimately will lower costs and losses. Idesco’s Hershkowitz says his company’s ROI studies show “thousands of dollars are saved in virtually every system we have sold,” from outright theft to improper entry with intent to do physical harm.

ActivCard’s Zitzer says that for enterprises with more than 10,000 employees, “the payback time we’ve seen is between 18 and 24 months.”

Polaroid’s White refers to her company’s case study on the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority (RTA), which has “significantly reduced the cost of managing its ID program by outsourcing production completely to Polaroid ID,” she says. “They save on the cost of labor, benefits and time.”

With the inevitability that more and more organizations will come to rely on credentialing solutions, decision-makers must do their homework. Fargo’s Steinhoff-Smith emphasizes the need to make sure the selected technology works with other systems such as access control, logical access, time and attendance and the ability to make purchases, such as in a cafeteria, if necessary.

GE’s Provoost also emphasizes the need for credentialing to work with other systems, and for companies to obtain lifetime warranties on their card readers.