DataCard Expands World's Best-Selling Line of Plastic Card Printers.

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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 1998--

Five new models establish new price-performance standards

for card printers

DataCard Corporation dramatically expanded its family of plastic card printers today unveiling five new value-priced printers. The new DataCard(R) Select(TM) and Express(TM) Class printers offer a variety of new and enhanced capabilities_including print speeds that are as much as 50 percent faster than competitive offerings.

"We invented plastic card printers and built a reputation for superior technology, reliability and support," said Steve Blake, vice president of product marketing for DataCard's Enterprise Company. "With this dramatic expansion of our product family, we also become the clear leader in value, performance and selection."

In addition to a choice of print speeds, the new DataCard printers offer smart card and magnetic stripe capabilities, operator-replaceable printheads and an exclusive "smart" printer driver that allows users to manage every key function with easy-to-follow on-screen error prompts and instructions.

"Features like the operator-replaceable printhead and the smart driver provide end-users with a very low total cost of ownership," Blake said. "Low operating costs, coupled with extremely competitive acquisition costs, make our printers the best value on the market."

According to Blake, adding the new value-priced printers will significantly change the landscape in the plastic card printer market for both resellers and end-users.

"In the past, resellers and end-users had to compromise when it came to card printers," Blake said. "Either they purchased premium-priced, high-performance printers from 6 DataCard or they settled for cheaper alternatives offered by other printer manufacturers. Our new family of value-priced printers completely changes everything."

"Now, resellers and end-users can get the fastest print speeds, world-class support, the best warranty coverage, competitive pricing and the industry's broadest printer selection_all from a single source," Blake said.

Select Class printers redefine standards for speed, productivity

and reliability

"We divided our family of printers into classes to make it easier for resellers and end-users to navigate through all the choices and find the printer that best meets their needs," Blake said.

The DataCard Select Class printers offer customers a choice of full-color or one-color printing on one side or both sides of a card. The print speeds and recommended annual card volumes provide a perfect fit for a variety of demanding applications.

"We designed our Select Class printers to meet the requirements of cost-conscious, low- to mid-volume applications," Blake said. "For example, elementary and secondary schools, municipalities, corporations, casinos and theme parks are likely candidates for these new printers."

Select Class printers also offer an edge-to-edge printing feature for maximum design flexibility and hands-free card cleaning to help ensure long-term reliability.

"Plus, Select Class printers can be configured with magnetic stripe encoding and smart card personalization capabilities," Blake added. "In fact, both magnetic stripe and smart card capabilities can be built into the same printer."

Select Class models include the full-color DataCard(R) ImageCard(R) S, the full-color, duplex-printing DataCard(R) ImageCard(R) S2, the one-color DataCard(R) UltraGrafix(R) S and the one-color, duplex-printing DataCard(R) UltraGrafix(R) S2.

Express Class printers offer cost-effective solutions for

entry-level applications

The DataCard Express Class includes the enhanced, full-color DataCard(R) ImageCard(R) Express(TM) printer that delivers up to 75 cards per hour.

"From any perspective-including price, performance or long-term reliability-the ImageCard Express is the printer of choice for lower-volume, full-color applications," Blake said. "It's a great fit for professional associations, health clubs, daycare centers and other organizations with lower-volume needs."

The DataCard(R) UltraGrafix(R) Express(TM) card printer rounds out the Express Class, featuring up to 250 card-per-hour speed for one-color applications.

"UltraGrafix Express will fill a broad market need for a productive, affordable and ultra-reliable one-color card printer," Blake said. "We expect it will be used for membership IDs, warranty cards and other simple, low-cost applications."

Both DataCard Express Class printers offer plug-and-play operation, an operator-replaceable printhead and resellers

According to Blake, DataCardtrengthens the value-priced portion of our product offering and provides both end-users and resellers with the product depth they expect from an industry leader," Blake said.

"We expect a large number of Select and Express Class printers to move through the DataCard Channel Partner network and we're already making preparations for the surge in sales activity," Blake added. "In fact, we've already begun accepting orders today for both the Select and Express Class printers."

DataCard Corporation, a privately held company based in Minneapolis, Minn., provides customers around the world with fully integrated solutions for a variety of financial, identification and healthcare applications. In addition to turnkey solutions, the company offers complete lines of card personalization systems, digital photo ID systems, photo ID printers and transaction systems. (www.datacard.com)