Many medical facilities will soon be moving toward the use of multiple application cards. The technology has been out there for some time. Now one smart card can be used to monitor time and attendance, allow access to computers, supplies, restricted areas, and even use of equipment and vending machines. In this way, hospital staff will only be required to carry one card. Typically smart cards contain imbedded chips that interface with readers to manage and track various types of data. If you have been exploring smart card technology, you will know that there are many companies out there that sell smart card printers and encoders. Luckily we have done much of the work for you in narrowing down the options to the very best. You can view some of these options right here at www.IDCardsCanada.com, or you can contact us at http://idcardscanada.com/pages/contact-us.

Those outside the healthcare world might be amazed by the security challenges faced by hospitals. Maintaining the privacy of patient records, staff and patient safety, visitor management, prevention of crimes against assets and people—these are only some of the security threats hospitals must field in today’s world. There are many aspects to threat mitigation in the healthcare field. IDCardCanada is uniquely positioned to guide hospital administrators through the maze of options available for managing key aspects of healthcare security. With years of experience working with hospitals, we can educate you on the many products out there to enable you to manage patients,staff,visitors, access to information, access to secure areas, etc. For expert advised based on combined decades of experience, please contact us at http://idcards.com/pages/contact-us.

SD460™ and CD800™ Card Printer with Inline Lamination Module

The new Datacard® CD800™ card printer with inline lamination module and SD460™ card printer empowers organizations to print, encode and laminate cards in one pass, giving you the power to protect your people, programs and budget, with unique new technologies such as serialized laminates, and a patent-pending tactile impression feature.  

Desktop Supplies available for these models include:

•           Generic holographic laminates

•           Custom holographic laminates

•           Clear laminates

•           Cleaning supplies

SR300 Retransfer Card Printer Enhancements

We recently announced enhancements to the Datacard® SR300 retransfer card printer. The improved SR Series printers now include new smart card encoding modules supporting various card types.  This provides a more comprehensive encoding solution, while continuing to deliver superb full-color, over-the-edge retransfer print capabilities for a wide range of applications.

New Identive Smart Card Encoders for SD Series and CD800 Card Printers

Effective February 2014, all SD series and CD800 printers and upgrade kits will be manufactured with new Identive smart card encoders.  The new Identive Cloud 4000 F DTC is a replacement for the SCM SCR331D1.  Applications that are currently running the SCM SCR331D1 should be able to run the new Identive Cloud 4000 F DTC with minimal updates.  This change affects the Datacard SD260L™, SD360™, SD460 and CD800 card printers and the CD820™ instant issuance system.  

New Printer Driver Offers New Features

Datacard Group has recently announced a new printer driver, Datacard® XPS Card Printer Driver v5.0 for Microsoft® Windows OS.

The new v5.0 printer driver has a variety of new features including:

•           Support for new printers: SD460 printer and CD800 printer with inline lamination module

•           Support for Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2

•           New ribbon support, including non-topcoat YMCK/YMCK-K, MT-KT, YMCKF-KT

•           Ability to print black image pixels using K panel

•           Updated SDK samples to support multiple cards in printer and additional smart card personalization

•           Updated Datacard® ID Software XPS Card Printer plug-in to support lamination and UV printing

NOTE: Updated plug-in requires v6.5 of the Datacard ID software.

The new Datacard® XPS Card Printer Driver v5.0 for Microsoft® Windows is now available for the following Datacard® systems and printers:

•           SD260™ card printer

•           SD360™ card printer

•           SD460™ card printer

•           CD800™ card printer

•           CD800™ card printer with inline lamination module

•           CD820™ instant issuance system

•           CE870™ instant issuance system

•           CE840™ instant issuance system

Affordable retransfer printers offer more encoding and personalization options, as well as a new software integration feature that give organizations more choices in their card programs.

Datacard Group announced the addition of new product features to its affordable Datacard® retransfer card printers.

The Datacard SR200 and SR300 retransfer card printers enable corporations, universities and government agencies the ability to issue high quality, full-color printed cards with over-the-edge coverage that are secure, personalized and durable. 

The SR200 printer personalizes single-sided applications, while the SR300 printer offers dual-sided printing and can encode magnetic stripe or smart cards – including contact and contactless.  

New product features include more factory-installed smart card encoding modules and field upgradeable encoding that can support various contact/contactless card types.  In addition, there are new flexible configurations to the Software Development Kits (SDKs) that provide intuitive tools for card design, secure card production, and flexible management of card programs. 

“Our SR printers are used in a wide variety of applications and markets—such as access control, corporate ID or government ID cards, membership cards, transit passes and licenses—so it’s very important that we continuously enhance our product line to stay ahead of the innovation curve and provide the latest technology features to our customers,” said Connell Smith, vice president of supplies and desktop product marketing for Datacard Group.  “Our new features ultimately give organizations more options in their card programs, the ability to personalize and encode additional card types, as well as easily integrate into software applications with plug-and-play features.” 

Because the SR300 printers are used in a wide variety of applications and offer retransfer printing, it is a very cost-effective technology for organizations to implement as it gives them the ability to choose from various personalization and printing options – including the ability to print on a variety of card surfaces and materials – such as blank or preprinted cards, as well as PET, PET-G, polycarbonate, and PVC cards. 

Organizations can also build a complete card issuance solution from Datacard Group by combining Datacard® software, certified supplies and global services.  The SR200 and SR300 retransfer printers are also integrated with optional Datacard card laminators, which apply protective topcoats, overlays, and laminates to the card to help extend card life and strengthen card security, ultimately helping combat counterfeiting and alteration.

With the rollout of our new ecommerce presence, IDCardsCanada, we want to take this opportunity to promise you the same level of customer service you have always enjoyed from DKC Associates. Should you wish to make a purchase at www.IDCardsCanada.com but still have the advice of seasoned experts, you can contact us as always. You can continue to count on us to take the time to really explore your needs and match them to the perfect product for you. You can also depend on us to help you get set up and learn to use security equipment if you need help in this regard. We will advise you on the best environment and care to maximize the life of your equipment. And our service department is stronger than ever, so your maintenance or repair needs will continue to be met. As always, you are encouraged to Contact Us with any questions you may have. We are always delighted to hear from you.

Available as of March 19 2014

The printer and driver can be installed on one of the following operating systems:

Windows 7 64-Bit

Windows 7 32-Bit

Windows Vista 32-Bit (tested with Service Pack 2 installed)

Windows XP 32-Bit (tested with Service Pack 3 installed)

Windows 2000 32-Bit (tested with Service Pack 4 installed)

If you have any Datacard® SR series printer, it is recommended you apply this new driver version, at your earliest convenience.

If you are unsure of how to do this, please Contact Us and one of our Datacard® Certified Technicians will be happy to help you with this.

At this point, there may be some confusion about DKC Associates and IDCardsCanada. For those of you who are existing clients of DKC Associates, you may have questions about how IDCardsCanada relates to DKC Associates—the company you have come to know and trust. Also, it may appear that we are using the names DKC Associates and IDCardsCanada interchangeably. We want to take this opportunity to provide some clarity around these two names. DKC Associates continues to exist as you have always known it. We still have you, the client, as our number one priority and we are here for you as always by phone or email. In addition to that, we have a new internet presence—IDCardsCanada—our online incarnation so to speak. When we refer to IDCardsCanada, we are referring to the ecommerce side of DKC Associates. Through IDCardsCanada, we look forward to continuing to provide you with the very best products and service out there.

Now that DKC Associates has so many of our amazing products available online through IDCardsCanada, you may wonder if we still offer our basic online catalogue. The answer is yes, you can still get information about security card related supplies such as blank or pre-printed cards, stickers, lanyards, punches, tags, etc. through our online catalogue. To do so, visit http://view-my-catalog.com/dkc/. Or you can visit www.IDCardsCanada.com and click “Catalogues” on the homepage of our new website. As with our previous catalogue, you can reference this tool online, add the handy shortcut to your desktop or print a hard copy. This catalogue will continue to be useful to you in ordering all security card related supplies including printer ribbons, card and laminating pouches, strap clips and much, much more. However now, in addition, you can order these AND larger items such as printers, laminators and imprinters at www.IDCardsCanada.com. If you haven’t already done so, please take a look. We think you’ll like what you see!