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As a family business, headquartered in Lütjensee near Hamburg, PAV is one of the leading manufacturers of card and RFID solutions for global players in all industries. Therefore their products can be found (almost) everywhere. At the hotel, traveling, at the stadium, shopping, in the mailbox, and most likely in your wallet.
The company’s products and solutions ranges from heat-resistant ID cards for the police in Abu Dhabi, contactless employee ID cards for numerous DAX companies and contactless cards for airport access control. PAV also supports many companies in the development and production of initial samples, such as smart cards and rely on proven components from the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers. All cards are produced in their high security area, which meets the highest security requirements.
Government ID and Passports
In addition, PAV supplies a large number of European, African and Asian countries with passport and ID card inlays. Synthetic paper or PC inlays can be processed in any conventional passport. These inlays can be easily integrated in the in the cover as well as into the data page. The RFID technology makes it possible to read out the data contactlessly and offers the highest level of security against counterfeiting. The polycarbonate inlays are mainly used for passport data pages or ID cards, whereas the synthetic paper inlays are excellent for e-cover solutions of passports.
Inlay production at PAV has been evaluated by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). In 2004, PAV was chosen, because of their highly advanced production technology, to participate in one of the first field tests for e-passports in Europe. Today, the family-owned company supplies numerous states with inlays for e-passports and ID cards.
Health & Donor Services
Around 90 per cent of the population in Germany is insured by the statutory health insurance system. PAV has also been a partner to the German health industry for many decades. Their portfolio ranges from production of the electronic health card (eGK) for health insurance funds to customised prescription forms for physicians in private practice in Germany.
As a renowned producer of the health insurance card, PAV has also been commissioned by numerous health insurance funds to produce the electronic health card. The card’s innovative technology helps to improve communication between physicians, dentists, pharmacies, hospitals and health insurance funds. One of the main features of the electronic health card is a photo of the insured person, which stops card abuse from the outset. PAV obtains the photos beforehand by letter, online upload or MMS. The image management system which was specially developed by PAV reflects our extensive experience in image processing technology.
PAV also personalises and encodes the cards. The electronic health card stores the insured persons data, such as name, date of birth, gender, address, insurance number, status, etc. The cards are sent to the respective insurant by PAV’s lettershop. To ensure that all the cards are reaching the right recipients, in the high-security area each chip is read out and compared with the assigned address before being enveloped,.
There is also a growing demand for applications that provide complex solutions and higher levels of security in the German health insurance system. Microprocessor cards with large storage capacities are particularly suitable. One example is the new blood donor card issued by the German Red Cross. The regional ID cards which were previously used have been replaced step by step since 2012 by a smartcard with an integrated RFID chip and a microprocessor.
The blood donor services commissioned PAV to produce the new blood donor cards, which also includes personalising and encoding the cards. In addition to the blood group, only the holder’s surname, first name and date of birth are stored on the chip. This modern system now allows blood to be donated anywhere in Germany.
The electronic blood donor cards are also produced in their high-security zone, which meets the all security requirements and the cards are send directly to the holder by PAV’s in-house lettershop.
Contactless, RFID and NFC
The growing demand for contactless cards continues as they are deployed for access control, time tracking, as tickets for public transport or as cards for spas and tourist areas. PAV is able to supply customers with RFID cards containing chips of all major semiconductor manufacturer including the RFID market leader Infineon. Additional security features, such as holograms, can also be integrated in the cards on request.
Microprocessor-embedded cards are now used whenever applications involve a security dimension, for example in closed payment systems. The chip on such cards has its own operating system, ensuring that data can not only be stored, but also processed and encrypted on the card itself. That means that different applications can be configured freely and strictly separately from each other in respect of size, access rights management, security levels and password management.
Customised antenna layouts also enable PAV to change the shape of the card, or to include slotted holes for card clips and all cards are produced in their high-security, ISO 27001-certified area, which meets the all data security requirements. PAV also provide two or more chips in one so-called hybrid card. One example of how a hybrid card can be used is a globally operating company which uses different card types for access control at its various locations. Employees who work at several locations can be given easy access to the respective buildings using just one card, thanks to an appropriate solution designed for this case.
In addition to classical contactless RFID cards, PAV also produces NFC cards (tag type 2+4) which can be read and written into using NFC-capable mobile phones. A customised antenna enables an optical personalisation with hardly any restrictions on the cards. Combined with PAV’s ability to equip the cards with additional storage or microcontroller chips, the cards are also suitable for security applications. PAV’s NFC cards in credit-card quality have a long service life, in accordance with the ISO standard.