In the modern world proof and protection of our identity has become as important as securing our homes and property. With the advent of digital technology, identity theft, forgery and fraud are no longer the domain of sophisticated criminal organisations- individual operators are now able to alter or replicate many common personal identification mediums and in particular identity cards.

In addressing these concerns a new generation of security identification cards, using state of the art technology, systems and equipment has been developed in Australia as a result of a Research and Development project between Placard Pty Ltd, a high security Australian plastic card manufacturer and Securency Pty Ltd (a joint venture company of the Reserve Bank of Australia and supplier of the Guardian(r) polymer substrate used for Australian and many overseas banknotes)

As a consequence of the success of polymer banknotes in combating counterfeiting in many countries, Placard and Securency sought to combine their technical and production capabilities to enhance the security of plastic identity cards and address the key issues of card forgery and fraud.

After two years of development, a new plastic identity card has been perfected containing many of the security features found in polymer banknotes around the globe. Derived from the successful Guardian(r) polymer banknote substrate, SENTRII(r) substrate has been formulated to enable polymer's introduction into plastic card production for Government only applications.

The new SENTRII(r) card substrate presents a greater challenge to the forger and more "detection features" for authorities and the public relying on the integrity of the card. Replacing the standard white PVC core substrate traditionally used in ID card production, the new SENTRII(r) card substrate features a Securency polymer core substrate with a window and diffractive optical element (DOE) effect and can also contain many of the more complex security features found in our banknotes.