DataCard ID Printer Industry Advancements

                                                                                         

DataCard Group is a leading manufacturer of ID card printers. They are headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota but serve clients across the globe in over 120 countries. Over the last several years, they have been busy acquiring additional assets and forming new partnerships. This includes the purchase of both Ga-Vehren and CPST Technologies. At the same time, the company has also faced some restructuring. The consolidation of the St. Louis branch into the main location in Minnesota is scheduled for completion in April of 2009. The majority of the corporation's 1400+ employees will now be located at this central branch.

New Clients

Last fall, DataCard coordinated with the state of Virginia to streamline the voter check-in process for the last election. The Advocate® software this company has created for precinct management meets all the needs of polling sites. This includes voter check-in, integration of registration data, and auditing capabilities. DataCard has a long history of providing solutions for similar applications in other industries. These include visitor and employee ID management software programs for high traffic venues. This level of experience served the company well in the 2008 elections - no issues were reported with the Advocate® system. The current contract is anticipated to cover over 2,000 Virginia precincts in future election cycles.

Smart Chip Integration

In international news, DataCard is partnering with Monext in France to create a faster issuance process for smart chip cards. DataCard brings expertise in the card creation process to the table and provides the hardware for this enterprise. Monext offers extensive knowledge of European electronic payment systems and handles the data management. Unlike in the U.S. where magnetic stripe encoding is common, Europe has pressed forward with more advanced technology. The higher level of security afforded by integrated circuit (IC) devices makes sense for handling financial transactions.

However, creating these at a central location and mailing them to customers is not seen as the optimal method of distribution. Companies that issue these devices are interested in encoding and personalizing them as a "while you wait" service for their customers. Reducing that wait time to 60 seconds is the goal of the current collaboration. The belief is that the sooner a client has a card in hand, the more likely he or she is to use it. The customer can also be given the option to select a design and a PIN code at the point of issuance. This personal touch makes it even more likely that the card will see frequent use.

Products

DataCard continues to heavily advertise the MJ7500 for high volume issuers. With speeds reaching 60,000 units per hour, this machine is obviously intended for a fairly select clientele. The system is designed to deliver bulk applications such as scratch-off phone cards and gift cards. It also features bar coding capabilities.

For the average customer, the company offers a full range of affordable ID card printers. Desktop models include the SP25 rewriteable unit and the SP75 Plus with Ethernet and advanced encoding options. The RP90 model is available with a laminating module for greater card durability. All of these printers are excellent for employee ID enrollment, visitor management, and other personalized card creation needs.

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