School photographers know that student ID card printing can be quite hectic come Fall. Once a year, children and young adults line up to have their pictures taken for the yearbook and their photo ID card. A large number of pictures must be taken in a short duration. Having the ability to take a student’s picture and print their ID card on the spot is a major convenience. ADVANTIDGE was able to make this happen for one local school photographer.

With the newest ID card printers, students can have their ID’s printed in as little as 20 seconds. Recently, ADVANTIDGE supported a California-based photography company in finding a better way by upgrading their ID printing system. This upgrade minimized stress and increased efficiency with the hundreds and sometimes thousands of students they photograph and ID in a given day.

The Problem

This local photography company was experiencing delays while printing ID cards for hundreds–sometimes thousands of students per day. Their legacy technology was causing frequent issues increasing their need for tech support at untimely moments. Delays were impacting their relationships with the schools they were serving as student had to wait for long periods to receive their ID cards.

The Challenge

Our experts at ADVANTDIGE were able to help identify that this photographer had a need for speed without compromising quality. They needed a reliable ID card printer that would deliver when printing high volumes of student ID cards.

The Solution

ADVANTIDGE recommended the new Evolis Primacy printers. By purchasing and using these printers, they tripled their efficiency by improving their output speed. This greatly improved their relationship with schools by being able to provide a faster/higher quality service. It also improved the safety levels for the students of their community.

School ID Card Printing can be done quickly and on-site with the use of ID card software such as Cardpresso. This software gives professional photographers the tools needed to process ID cards from beginning to end. With CardPresso, users can import student photos, create the content required for the ID card, process the print job and send the information to the ID card printer. This provides almost instantaneous issuance with easy-to-use tools. Having the most updated version(s) of this software is necessary to ensure customers receive speedy, reliable service.

Also part of an ADVANTIDGE complete photo ID badge issuance system:

• Photo Backdrops
• ID Badge Holders
• ID Card Printer Ribbon
• Protective Transport Case

We help our clients find a better way. More than merely offering the best ID printers and products, ADVANTIDGE takes a consultative approach to understand the unique needs of each business or organization we serve. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help meet your goal and plan for the future.

To learn more about how we can support your identity management needs, please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800.965.5932 for more information.

Visitor management is the recording and collection of visitor data — manually or through automation — for the purpose of knowing who is in a facility, who they are visiting and how long they spent there. Schools, healthcare facilities and businesses are constantly striving to improve security and do a better job of tracking visitors in their facility.

AdvantIDge visitor management solutions — which include software, hardware and accessories — help address the unique needs of organizations, ensuring safety to your staff and visitors.

From simple visual identification and badge accessories to electronic visitor management systems, self-serve automated kiosks and other sophisticated technologies, visitor management solutions from AdvantIDge help safeguard your people and property, create a record of who is on your premises and make a powerful first impression with guests.

Low Cost and Popular Visitor Management Systems

Lobby Track Standard

Visitor Management Software for Small-to-Mid Size Organizations Designed for low traffic lobbies. Lobby Track Standard is perfect for small installations. Register visitors upon arrival, issue visitor badges, check visitors in and out and view detailed logs and reports with Lobby Track. Register and badge visitors — Register new visitors or other groups of people.

Registration steps are configurable and you define what data you need to collect from the visitor. Design and issue professional visitor ID cards, visitor identification badges or passes using the integrated badge designer. Several pre-designed templates are included to make it easy to issue expiring badges or plastic IDs.

Improve workplace safety — Register and log visitors to your facility. Use the evacuation report in case of emergency to ensure all people have been evacuated from the building.

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EasyLobby Secure Visitor Management (SVM) 

HID Global’s EasyLobby Secure Visitor Management (SVM) software is the main application for processing visitors, including ID scanning, record creation, badge printing, watch list screening, check-in and check-out, and email notification, among other features. The solution improves security by enabling organizations to identify exactly who is in their facilities, while enhancing the professionalism of an organization by streamlining the visitor check-in process and providing high quality visitor badges.

Used by thousands of organizations such as corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare and property management, the software enables users to capture detailed visitor information more accurately by simply scanning a license, passport or business card, and includes the industry’s most feature-rich, yet easy-to-use visitor management capabilities.

EasyLobby SVM software is installed on a Windows workstation or Kiosk, typically in the lobby, along with any combination of desired hardware peripherals such as a license scanner, badge printer, camera and signature capture pad. Any number of EasyLobby SVM stations can share a central database (SQL Server or Oracle).

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AdvantIDge is committed to keeping you up to date with all of your current technology, including visitor management systems. We offer a wide variety of other products such as identification card printer systems and other related products to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card printer needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals, we strive to give you the ability to create company ID cards, unique identification cards, and more. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update– we provide excellent customer service!

The first basic question that is fielded by our sales representatives and support staff is: what is the difference between Direct-to-Card Printing and Re-Transfer Printing? The final products look similar, so to answer this question let’s take a look at the technology behind these two types of ID card printing, and what it means to a consumer.

Direct-to-card (DTC) printers has been around for quite a long time, much longer than re-transfer printers. It is the most common technology used by photo ID card systems to print images directly onto the surface of a plastic card. The ID card printer does this by heating a special print ribbon beneath a thermal print-head, one color at a time using a variation of a YMCK ribbon, resulting in the transfer of color from the ribbon directly to a blank card. It is considered to be quite reliable, and is often times cheaper than re-transfer ID card printing.

Re-Transfer printing, also known as Reverse Transfer printing, is a two-step process that transfers your image to a film before applying it to the card. First, the image is printed in reverse directly onto a clear layer of film. Next, the print-head heats up and bonds the imaged film to the card’s surface by applying heat and pressure. The two step re-transfer process creates a true over the edge (no white space around the edge) high quality image on PVC cards and other card types. These types of printers are generally more expensive than direct-to-card  printing, but produce high quality prints.

AdvantIDge offers a wide variety of all of the card printer systems, or other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips, reels and other peripherals to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our Sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update, we provide excellent customer service!

One martial arts school in California has been quite successful as of late, and is experiencing a growing customer base. Over the years the school has opened new locations and has hired new staff. Because of this growth, the school was seeking out the idea of purchasing an ID printer. After speaking with the AdvantIDge sales team, they purchased the Zebra ZXP Series 3 Printer, along with some compatible ribbons.

By purchasing these products from AdvantIDge, the school is now able to print out ID cards for their staff, as well as their students. Providing these ID cards to members of their team and students makes it much easier to figure out who is at each martial arts class. It also expedites the attendance process. With a growing number of students per class, the easiest solution is to provide each individual with an ID card. Each student then scans their card before/after class, and staff use software to keep a database of the records.

Another great benefit of ID cards for students is that it makes it much harder for people to cheat their way into free classes. Every new sign-up is important to a small-business. Ensuring everyone has taken the necessary steps to become a paying customer is crucial. With ID cards given to all students and teachers, it is much easier to see people who should not be there, as they would not have an ID card.

AdvantIDge offers a wide variety of card printer systems, and other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals, we strive to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update– we provide excellent customer service!

Does your ID card printing require high resolution because of factors such as micro-text or small images? At AdvantIDge, you have a few options when it comes to your choice of card printer, as we offer a few different brands which offer twice the amount of dots-per-inch than traditional 300 DPI printers. Printing above 300 DPI is helpful for print jobs when attention-to-detail is a must, including organizations such as state & federal government agencies, colleges & universities, corporate security, hospitals and healthcare facilities who need re-transfer printing technology to routinely issue high definition ID badges.

Below is a brief breakdown of ID printers which offer high-resolution printing.

	FARGO HDP5600  – *Recommended*  High resolution 600 dpi option for printing vibrant images, crisp barcodes and small, complex characters 600 dpi for both single-side and dual-side printing Full Color ribbons offered at a lower cost-per-card by AdvantIDge Optional Dual Input Hopper with 200 card capability Optional High Durable HDP Film
	Evolis Advansia – 600 dpi print head (23.6 dots/mm) Dual-sided printing (standard) Reverse transfer printing Over the edge printing Color dye sublimation and resin monochrome retransfer Bitmap: 24 bits, R/G/B 256 level Printout: Y/M/C 256 level 64 MB of memory (RAM)
	Datacard SR300e – 600 DPI print resolution IPsec technology for secure data transfer Security erase of black panel text on YMCK ribbons Security resin erase feature for better data protection Includes Magnetic Stripe & Identive Loosely Coupled, Dual Contact/Contactless Smart Card Encoder for MiFare, ISO7816, ISO14443 A/B, Felica Cards Over-the-edge, full-card printing
	NISCA PR-C201 600 dpi 24-bit color High durability, low maintenance, 100,000 cards Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) Windows 2000/XP/VISTA/7/8 32 or 64 bit Built in Ethernet interface Optional lamination with the L201

AdvantIDge is committed to keeping you up to date with all of your current technology. We offer a wide variety of all of the card printer systems, and other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals, we strive to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update– we provide excellent customer service!

Now that you’ve made the investment into a card printer, you definitely want your cards to last as long as possible. Card durability is essential to guarding your cards from everyday wear and tear — eliminating the cost of creating replacement badges due to card damage. Whether you’re producing student ID’s, construction worker credentials, or staff badges, we have all the ways to keep your cards looking fresh.

Lamination

Just like with anything, lamination protects from scratches, debris, and water. It’s the same for your ID cards! We’ve lined up your options from inexpensive to luxury protection:

Adhesive ID Card Overlays

Clear lamination overlay stickers add great protection and durability to a basic ID card system. Whether it is to protect the image of an ID badge from getting scratched in the wallet or to keep the image from transferring off of the card in a vinyl ID badge holder pouch. These plain overlays are “peel and stick” transparent labels which are manually affixed after the ID card is printed. These are also available in holographic varieties to add visual card security!

Lamination module

Overlaminates add a layer of visual security to your cards, making it more difficult for counterfeiters to duplicate. With varying thickness (.6 mil and 1.0 mil) you can choose the level of durability for your cards. They also add durability by reducing swipe abrasion and dye migration, and by shielding the images on your card from UV light. With lamination, you can add up to 5 times durability to your cards!

HDP Printers

All HDP (High Definition Printers) also known as “retransfer printers” require film for the printing process. In addition to improved color saturation and edge-to-edge printing from HDP printers, the film provides UV protection which protects the card color from fading. Combining this with a lamination unit offers supreme protection for the cards.

Badge holders

Badge holders come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and durability. Badge holders can have “zip lock” features to lock out elements such as rain or debris. Others come in rigid plastic to reinforce badges, making sure they aren’t bent or warped. Commonly, badge holders are thin plastic pouches affixed to lanyards to prevent scratches and scuffs. If dealing with heavy machinery or construction, arm badge holders are an excellent alternative to ensure badges don’t caught in moving mechanical parts.

Break away lanyards

More of a safety precaution than anything else, break away lanyards have a safety latch on them which detaches under pressure. This is usually required for schools and health care facilities to prevent chocking. If a lanyard gets caught on an object or pulled with force, the latch along the neck separates the lanyard into two to prevent chocking.

AdvantIDge offers a wide variety of all of the card printer systems, or other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update– we provide excellent customer service!

AdvantIDge is pleased to announce that Nisca is extending its warranty for their professional Nisca PR-C101 printer! This new extended warranty provides peace of mind and worry-free operation of your Nisca PR-C101 ID card printer, long after your original printer warranty has expired. Moving forward, we are pleased to announce a 5 year/10,000 print warranty. Warranty period ending on which ever mark is reached first.

The Nisca PR-C101 single-sided printer provides a simple and affordable out-of-the-box solution for high quality, high durability ID card printing with low maintenance requirements. This printer is small enough to fit into an office overhead bin or under a counter, and offers the first ever rotating LCD panel and optional front or back exit. This basic professional solution is a great addition to ID card systems for every small organization, including police, libraries, schools, clubs, casinos and more.

The Nisca PR-C101 has 24-bit image quality, allowing the imprinting of 2-point text on your plastic ID cards while its design allows for front or rear card exiting depending on what best suits your working space. The rotating LCD panel provides complete easy-to-read status messages and prompts, and the all-in-one ribbon cartridge and cleaning roller keep printer maintenance easy. The Nisca PR-C101 card printer has been equipped with a desktop locking port that will help to deter unauthorized handling, and you can additionally password-protect the PR-C101 within its printer driver so only authorized users can produce cards.

See the Nisca PR-C101 ID Card System with Advantidge!

We offer a trade-in credit program if you are looking to upgrade your card printer. The old unit is sent in to us and used as credit towards a new card printer. Feel free to reach out for more information when the time comes to upgrade.

AdvantIDge offers a wide variety of all of the card printer systems, or other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update– we provide excellent customer service!

Meet their needs with TEMPBadge Visitor Management products.

A foundational priority for schools is to provide a positive learning environment for students and staff. Today, that means an increased focus on security and safety. As the school year nears, many of your school customers will be looking for a new Visitor Management solution. Meet their needs with versatile TEMPBadge products from IDSupershop.

TEMPbadge expiring badges These badges expire in either a half-day or full-day time frame to show a visitor’s time is up, and come with pre-printed school titles like “STUDENT” and “SCHOOL VISITOR”.

Visitor Badge Log Books Small schools with a single entry point will love how easy our log books are to use: the receptionist or visitor can quickly and easily personalize and issue a one-day expiring badge!

TEMPbadge Visitor Management System Customizable text fields and a user-friendly interface are among the highlights of our fast, efficient and secure full-scale system.

Schools will need other supplies as well! Offer your customers other school essentials like ID cards, card printers, printer supplies, lanyards or UBand™ wearable access credentials.

AdvantIDge offers a wide variety of all of the card printer systems, or other visitor management devices, to fill any of your asset tracking, visitor management, or identification card needs. From card printers and supplies for issuance, through to badge clips and other peripherals to put them into your users hands. With more than 40 years of combined industry experience, we’re ready to help you achieve your identification goals. For specific information please contact our Sales department at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932 for more information on this update, we provide excellent customer service!

Recently Butler University took a long look at their badge issuance solution. When they learned that they had an opportunity to both streamline the time and save money in the process they were ready to explore the possibilities. The results were dramatic, as the case study below demonstrates.

The Challenge

On the Butler University campus, your student ID is your all-access pass into the library, athletic center, and usually your next meal. When incoming students register, they receive the laminated photo cards and carry them with them at all times. Loaded with “Dawg Bucks,” their student ID cards act like debit cards for purchases at campus dining spots, some select off-campus restaurants and the campus bookstore.

During high-volume new student registration – when hundreds of students need cards in a short timeframe – fast ID card creation is critical. When cumbersome printing slowed the process, Butler began looking for a better way. Previously, card creation required a two-step process to print and then laminate, adding up to considerable time for each card.

“A separate laminate step added about 45 seconds to creating each ID card, which was unacceptable when we were trying to process 200 students in a couple of hours,” said Eddie Marsh, systems analyst. “When you’ve got mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, brother and sister waiting with the student, it’s high-stress for us if printing is slow.”

Cards also didn’t last as long as the typical student’s college career. Less than halfway through their four years on campus, the cards would begin fading under normal use and printed dye bled onto wallets.

The Solution

In a trial, Zebra’s ZXP Series 7 card printers performed with the speed that Butler needs for high-volume printing. “When I first saw the Zebra printers, I was really impressed with the speed,” said Theresa Hilliard, who handles ID cards and vehicle registration at Butler.

Beyond faster printing, the ZXP Series 7 card printer provides photo-like printing and ease of use. It automatically adjusts to the thickness of the card, and ribbon loading takes just a few seconds. Critically, the ZXP Series 7 integrates printing and lamination in one step, reducing the overall time to print the barcoded, magnetic stripe cards.

Butler deployed the printers well before new student registration. While two printers reside normally in the campus police department, the university brings them to a more central location for registration, requiring wireless network printing. When Butler needed help connecting printers to a sub-network for registration, Zebra’s tech support team quickly rewrote the print drivers to get the printers to communicate with the network.

Results

For new student registration, integrated printing and lamination gives Butler University back approximately 45 seconds on every card. Across 200 students, that saves 2.5 hours, allowing staff handling registration to complete the process sooner. By increasing the ribbon per roll capacity from 250 to 750, the staff spends significantly less time replacing ribbons and more time helping students.

Marsh also says that the ZXP Series 7 printers are ready to go when turned on, without the warm-up time required of previous printers. All-in-one printing and lamination likewise saves the university on supply costs.

With a magnetic stripe and barcoding, Butler University’s ID cards work hard for students. The cards printed on the ZXP Series 7 printers are proving to be more durable over time – a critical requirement for the high usage students put them through. With digital printing, color photos don’t fade and printed dye doesn’t wear off or transfer to wallets, creating longer lasting identification cards for students and campus staff.

“We’ve been really happy with Zebra,” Hilliard said. “When someone comes into our office for a replacement card, the printer is ready to go and we have their cards right away. They comment, ‘That was fast!’”

If a solution as simple as that can make such a dramatic difference in the results, as well as save money in the long run, imagine what that could mean for you!

With over 40 years of combined industry experience, Advantidge has been helping institutions around the world create secure, cost-effective identity management solutions featuring easy-to-use ID card printers. As one of the top distributors for the industry’s most respected ID card product manufacturers, Advantidge is committed to ensuring that every client receives the right ID products for their specific needs.

Today, businesses of all sizes choose Advantidge because our ID card systems deliver guaranteed reliability with personal attention from qualified account managers. We take pride in our 360 degree approach to complete customer satisfaction while our end-to-end ID card solutions help clients protect physical and intellectual assets in today’s digital age. Whether you issue hundreds or millions of ID badges each year, count on Advantidge to help you conduct business productively and efficiently. Contact us today at [email protected] or call 800-965-5932, we provide excellent customer service!

With hundreds of school photographers and labs working with Advantidge year after year, we are proud to serve your community and play an integral role in the success of your organization when it comes to ID card printing. We have long standing relationships with the top manufacturers serving the school photography industry and expect to develop the same relationship with you and your team.

For those of you doing onsite ID badge issuance who are tired of low end webcams, count on Advantidge to provide a high quality solution that meets your expectations. For less than $300 you can get a current High Resolution Color Housed Digital ID Camera + Lens along with custom driver that provides direct connection via twain so you or your client don’t have to deal with slow, low quality web cams or search through folders to find the right pictures for the right student.

Hands down we provide the best service in both pre- and post-sales support for our photographers, whether they are in the field issuing ID badges or back at the office printing photo ID cards in batch mode with an ID card system. Our team is intimately familiar with the unique needs of photographers and our organization is configured with the specific goal of serving you during the busy season from Summer to Fall, when universities and K-12 schools are registering their students for the year.

While most clients are simply looking for the cheapest and easiest solution to issue student ID cards for their school clients, many have discovered that there are other opportunities to utilize the same ID card printing equipment for profitable add-ons to a variety of other markets already served.

School Photographey ID Card System Additional Uses include:

• Emergency Preparedness Cards
• Community Discount Cards
• Student Travel ID Cards

At Advantidge we know how to help you focus on what matters most and promise to add value to your organization to increase your profitability, whether it’s cutting costs or breaking into new products and/or markets.

School Photography clients are handled by Lawrence Grafstein who brings over a decade of experience in the ID industry serving photographers and labs just like yours. Lawrence can always be reached by telephone on direct line 310-531-8767 or by email at [email protected]. Thanks in advance for the opportunity to work together!