Hologram Industry News

IN ABOUT four months from now,new vehicles rolling on to the Capital’s roads will have special number plates. The new tamper-proof high security registration plates (HSRP) will make duplication difficult,and act as a deterrent against theft.

Beyond proposal Senior Delhi government officials said a draft proposal has already been prepared. “We are about to hire a consultant.The consultant will suggest how we can actually implement it,” said a senior Delhi government official not authorised to speak to the media.

The new plates will initially come only with new vehicles. Later, old vehicles will also have to replace conventional number plates with these.

Tobe fixed onto the vehicle’s body with special snap locks, the new plates will have a special code — unique for each vehicle — embossed on them along with the registration, engine and chassis numbers.

Made of aluminium, each plate will be protected against counterfeiting by the application of a chromium-based hologram. Any attempt to remove the number plate will break the snap lock, making it impossible to replace by anyone other than the authorised agency.

Introduction of these plates was first mooted about a decade ago. The project, however, was delayed due to lack of prepa ration at various levels. The Supreme Court, in its order in May 2009, has also extended the deadline for all states to implement these plates by another three months.
Source:www.hindustantimes.com

Mobile phone interfaces have been a source of debate for a while now. First there was the Palm Pilot, with its stylus, then there was the iPhone with its game changing touch screen. RIM also has had a go with the Blackberry Storm’s touch-screen. The latter provided tangible feedback, but if one goes by the reviews, it is almost a non-starter.

A recent design that features holographic technology poses yet another option and is a nice evolution of interface technology for the mobile phone segment. The Trou Hologram Mobile Phone does away with traditional mobile phone displays and instead utilizes 3D hologram projection to display images. The design, compliments of Mac Funamizu, was a submission for a future mobile design competition that asked contestants to “design the mobile phone of 2020.” The phone is just a design at this point, but recent advances in holographic technology point towards the realization of this type of interface in the next few years.
Source: http://www.psfk.com

C S Jeena, homai.org, 11 June 2009

De la Rue Identity Systems has won the tender to produce the UK’s new biometric passports in a 10-year £400m contract. The company announced today that it has been selected as the preferred bidder to design and produce the UK passport for the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), part of the Home Office.

James Hussey, chief executive of De La Rue, said: “As a British company, producing passports and identity documents for more than 50 governments, De La Rue is proud to be selected to bring its expertise to this project.

“This contract further reinforces De La Rue’s strong growth in the identity sector.”

However, the news will come as a blow to the incumbent passport printer 3M Security Printing Systems (SPSL), a division of 3M, which had already been producing biometric passports.

In July last year, 3000 passports were stolen from a delivery van sent out from SPSL..

A spokesman for 3M said: “We remain focused on the current contract, which will continue until 4 October 2010. During this transition period we will continue to provide excellent service and quality to IPS, as we have over many years.”

De La Rue has a long history of passport production having produced its first passport in 1915. Its Identity Systems division has now implemented more than 50 national schemes across the globe.

AB Graphic International has announced a number of new developments for its Digicon Series 2 label converting line. These include modules for booklet insertion, foil hologram registration and twin flatbed die embossing/foiling (pictured).

The Omega Digicon series 2 is a modular label converting line for digitally printed webs and offers all the usual production options such as 100% camera inspection, hot foil stamping, embossing, over laminating and sheeting. The new modules expand the range of label applications possible.

The booklet insertion application is fitted to the Digicon on rails so that it can be pushed out of the way when the not in use. The machine can process booklets with a thickness of up to 32 pages and is PC controlled through a touch screen that also permits jobs to be saved. Digital servomotors ensure precise web tension and tracking.

The hologram module was recently supplied for a security application and is used in combination with an inkjet printing system. This particular converting line is unique in that it has three web movements all on the same machine; semi-rotary, intermittent and full rotary.

The twin flat bed die embossing module with semi-rotary die cutting is another innovation that also permits foiling. On this application, the web on the Digicon is briefly paused while it is going backwards and forwards in semi rotary mode, and kept stationary just long enough to permit foiling. Savings are realized through the use of flat bed tooling which is a fraction of the cost of rotary tooling.

Prism Solar Technologies, maker of concentrating solar film that is said to up the efficiency and cut the cost of solar panel installations, has launched its second round of funding — hoping to bring in at least $150 million to finance the restoration of an old New York factory into a manufacturing facility, reports VentureWire.

The company acquired the 6.5-acre site for $3.75 million. Based in Highland, N.Y., it includes 93,000 square feet of plant space, with the potential to produce 60 megawatts of solar cells every year, and 1,000 megawatts of film to sell to cell manufacturers. Prism will also inherit a functioning machine shop, a wet lab, built-in security systems and specialty optical and glass-cleaning equipment from the building’s previous owner, PLASMACO. It says the new facility should create between 200 and 400 jobs in the next five years.

But the necessary conversion won’t be possible without additional funding — something that’s hard to come by for many solar firms, like Ausra and Optisolar, that have had to scale back their plant-building ambitions due to the downturn. Prism might have a slight advantage because its technology saves money, a key feature of many cleantech startups that successfully raise capital these days. The transparent holograms the company produces are much cheaper than typical solar cells and can be used to replace actual cells in panels while still producing the same wattage. The company claims that its holograms could reduce the number of expensive cells needed for panels by 85 percent.

Big solar firms in Silicon Valley get the lion’s share of attention, but Prism Solar has motored along fairly steadily. Based outside the fray in Lake Katrine, N.Y., it’s emphasis on low-cost holographic film separates it from the pack of solar competitors. In short, the holographic film — trapped between two layers of glass — redirects sunlight to the actual cells, keeping them working constantly at top efficiency. In addition to cutting costs, this system would also reduce panel maker’s dependence on pricey silicon resources.

Prism is already producing its holographic film in Tucson, Ariz., but only on a very small scale. It’s also just coming off an undisclosed bridge round of funding. It previously raised $10 million from IB2F Venture Capital, Phoenix-Fire, CounterPoint Ventures and several individual investors, not counting $500,000 in Grants from New York State’s Energy Research and Development Authority and $1 million in federal funding.
Sources

Specialist publishers, conference organisers and consultants Reconnaissance International has purchased the annual Pan-European High Security Printing Conference and the Asian High Security Printing Conference from the Cross Group and BSC International.

Established in 2001 these conferences have become recognised as leading events within the government and related high-security documents arena. The conferences cover issues relating to banknote production and cash handling, passports, tax stamps, e-passports, e-ID card production and other areas involved in high security printing.

The next four conferences will be transitional, organised jointly by Cross Group, BSC International and Reconnaissance International, as the events are integrated into Reconnaissance’s existing conference business. This includes the Tax Stamp Forum, Optical Document Security, the Global Forum on Pharmaceutical Anti-Counterfeiting and the Holo-pack•Holo-print® conference among others.

Ian Lancaster, managing director of Reconnaissance International, said the acquisitions will be an excellent fit with the company’s existing portfolio.

“These conferences complement our existing operations and fit extremely well between our core currency and authentication activities,” he said.

The 6th Pan-European High Security Printing Conference will be held from 1 - 2 April 2009 in Warsaw, Poland, while the 8th Asian High Security Printing Conference will follow on 13 -15 October 2009, with support from the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation.

The 7th Pan-European High Security Printing Conference will be held in Berlin, German in spring 2010.
For more about this visit: http://www.reconnaissance-intl.com/

France, Paris, March 16, 2009: Hologram. Industries announced the purchase of 100% of the company ADVESTIGO, a French producer of software specialized in the fight against counterfeiting and the exchange of illicit content. Financing for this acquisition in the amount of €4.5 million will be based fully on cash available at Hologram. Industries which amounted to €10.0 million as of December 31, 2008.

Hologram. Industries designs, manufactures and sells high security optical solutions worldwide within three major markets:
- The authentication of identity documents;
- Vehicle identification;
- The protection of brand-name products.

For Hologram. Industries, this acquisition is part of a horizontal diversification strategy and, besides providing a presence in the high growth market for the fight against numeric counterfeiting, thus provides it:

* Access to a new innovative technology which, in particular, will permit it to widen its offer to authentication solutions and traceability over the internet, aimed at brand-name protection and identity documents.
* A new team of 14 persons of which 9 persons are dedicated to research and development.

Advestigo and Hologram. Industries have previously worked together successfully as partners in the development of the Global Checker product, an innovative solution for on-line verification of the authenticity of identity documents.

The combination of these two entities makes the fruitful collaboration of a promising future core business concrete. Thanks to the strengthened collaboration between experts with different scientific horizons aimed at the same objectives of fighting fraud, this will permit the creation of increasingly innovative products which are well adapted to the market. From a sales and marketing perspective, it will permit Hologram. Industries to carry the Advestigo product offering internationally, thanks to the Group`s know-how and international network.

A French producer of software conceived in order to:
* detect, measure and battle numeric counterfeiting over the internet;
* strengthen the fight against the physical counterfeiting of goods through the
operation of adapted internet based surveillance.

In particular, Advestigo capitalizes on a portfolio of patented technologies for content recognition (text, sound, image or video) based on numeric prints, and integrated software solutions which can respond to its customers` needs.

Its cutting edge solutions AdvestiSEARCH and AdvestiGATE are currently targeted towards the markets for numeric media (on-line music, TV, cinema, games and software….) and for national security (public sector and security services). The
AdvestiSEARCH solution which is used industrially by the main copyright holders in France most notably won the Grand Prize for the “Information Society Technology” under the auspices of the European Commission.

Advestigo, which is based in Saint Cloud, France, is a member of the Microsoft IDEES program, of IBM PartnerWorld and the Cap Digital competitive pole. It`s supported by OSEO Innovation, the SGDN and the DGA, the National Agency for Research and the Ile-de-France Region through the PM`UP program. The SACEM, the SCPP, the National Police Force, the ALPA, the SPPF, Canal+, SonyBMG, Merlin, M6 and France Télévision are among its main customers.

www.hologram-industries.com

India, New Delhi, March 7, 2009: With the invention of a banknote, arose another problem-that of counterfeiting. Counterfeiting is probably as old as money itself. Before the introduction of paper money, the main way of doing it was to mix base metals in what was supposed to be pure gold or silver. Modern counterfeiting begins with paper money. Nations have used counterfeiting as a means of warfare. The idea is to overflow the enemy’s economy with fake bank notes, so that the real value of the money plummets.
With last year, the number of fake currency seized in India till October 2008 is Rs 5.6 crores (50 million), three times more than in 2007. In an attempt to reduce counterfeiting, The Indian government has invited global tender for participation in the process of short listing of Security features for bank notes. The last date for submission of application is 31st March 2009. Government of India is keen to consider such security products for bank notes which have been developed and tested in at least three major circulation Bank notes in the world in efforts to make counterfeiting difficult.

With industries and government waking up to piracy and counterfeits, the business of holograms has a promising future. Piracy regularly eats into the profits and reputation of big businesses. So much so that goods worth $600 billion are counterfeited every year. International alcohol brands lose approximately $300 million a year due to piracy.

In 2006, India lost $1,250 million to software piracy. This has made several businesses sit up and take steps to protect their interests. The use of holograms is one such measure.

Although the use of holograms in developed countries started in 1947, it started to gain popularity in India in the early 1990s. Brand identification and security were the main reasons behind their use. Each hologram is unique and one cannot recreate the same even with the same manpower and machinery. A hologram cannot be replicated, scanned, photocopied, or printed. That makes it an excellent security proof for brands. Holograms, thus, assure consumers about the quality of the brand. The government of India is one of their biggest users in the country. Voter ID cards, driving licenses, and passports carry security holograms; and with car theft on the rise, holographic security number plates are likely to be used for new vehicles.

Read the complete story at www.dare.com

FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida, February 3rd, 2009 – InkSure Technologies Inc. a provider of covert machine-readable security solutions for the prevention of counterfeiting, fraud and diversion, and a developer of a unique new chipless RFID technology today announced that Mr. David Wallace has joined InkSure as Director of Sales for the Americas.

Mr. Wallace has more than 25 years experience in the printing and security ink industry. He has high level experience in sales, product development and operations.

Don Taylor, VP and General Manager for US Operations, stated that ‘’ Inksure is very pleased to welcome David Wallace to our U.S. team. David has a valuable combination of technical product expertise, sales and customer relations skills that will be a tremendous asset to InkSure and our customers.”

About InkSure Technologies Inc.
For more news visit inksure at http://www.inksure.com