When shopping for an ID card printer, you’re liable at the outset to be hit with two choices: direct-to-card or reverse image transfer? Making an informed choice depends on what kind and how many cards you’re trying to print. 

By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor

Providing campuses with the ability to instantly notify their students in the event of a disaster or emergency was on most campus card vendor’s to-do lists. But the Virginia Tech incident quickly moved what had been a mid-tier suggestion all the way to the top.

The deadliest shooting in U.S. history occurred April 16, 2007 when Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before killing himself on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Since then, colleges around the country have been investigating ways that students, faculty and staff could have been notified quicker. 

With the recent addition of Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, bringing to 85 the number of schools utilizing Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management system, the company reports that some 328,000 students are now using Higher One services. In addition, account usage has increased by 37% since January, 2007. 

Ever think about adding new credential form factors to your HID security system? It is a major step easier now with the company’s introduction of idBank™, a virtual credential issuance solution that creates HID-compatible IDs on fobs or other non-card formats. The initial implementation of these Virtual Credentials is with Privaris’ biometric key fobs. 

German printer manufacturer Digital Identification Solutions has added a series of new products and a major new security initiative to its line of card printers. In addition to 10 new products, the secuirty additions include three important changes: Security Erase to eliminate the remnant data from the black panel of the printer ribbon, IPSEC for encrypted data transfer in the network, and UV printing for invisible security printing. 

HID Global has appointed two new installation channel sales representatives, signifying the company’s commitment to this key channel. The appointments are expected to “expand HID’s leadership in the market.” 

Datacard Group recently announced the availability of Datacard® Artista® VHD retransfer color printing module for the Datacard® MX6000™ card issuance system. This innovative module delivers true edge-to-edge, full-color card printing with 600 dpi image quality inline with an array of advanced card personalization capabilities. The Artista VHD module also sets a new standard for speed, printing up to 1,500 unique cards per hour.