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By Sunny Kim

How did you get interested in ID software and systems?

During my career, I have led the creation or expansion of numerous industry-changing software solutions in the education, publishing, and telecommunication markets.  The key to success with these solutions was always the strategic identification of customer needs and being able to provide compelling solutions that address those needs better than the competition.  Often times, I have found that truly breakthrough software solutions emerge when: 

• technology makes leapfrog advancements
• competitive innovation begins to stagnate
• new types of customers begin to appear, or when
• structural changes materialize in the sales channel.

When looking at my new position at Fargo, many of these ingredients are here.  For example, Fargos recent introduction of the HDP5000 card printer/encoder with high definition printing is a leapfrog advancement in printing technology.  Fargos new Asure ID software with iDIRECTOR that provides the ability to encode applications onto smart cards is a substantial advancement.  And Fargos new OnQueue software product launching this fall will provide any size organization with a single, scalable card production software solution that is perfect for either central or distributed credential issuance.  Fargo is well-positioned to capitalize upon all of these factors converging and I wanted to join Fargo to help it seize the opportunity.

What is your biggest challenge as director of product marketing for ID software and systems?

The biggest challenge right now is the strategic identification of customer needs that could be addressed through a software medium.  We are looking across the landscape of hosted software, packages, drivers, firmware, developer tools, service and support, programs, solutions, bundles and customized systems.  Not only are we trying to identify growth areas for Fargo, but to discover areas where our successful heritage as a global leader in card printers and materials could be enhanced with the addition of software that completes the end-to-end chain for our channel partners and customers.  Based on this, I believe that Fargo has great opportunities ahead.

What are Fargos strengths in the ID software market? How are you building on these advantages?

Fargo is known for producing highly reliable, well-timed, cost-effective card printing and materials solutions to a broad cross-section of the market.  Moving "upstream" in the value chain to add software solutions that tightly integrate with Fargos printers and materials will allow us to become a truly end-to-end solution provider in nearly every market we serve.  Take OnQueue for example.  This new software product enhances the efficiency of our professional printer line through smart load balancing and batch printing that can instantly react to changes throughout the network.  OnQueue can also make the deployment of specialty materials (e.g., visual security holographic overlaminates, etc.) more effective through easy redirection of jobs throughout the network.  Future solutions from Fargo will continue to tightly weave software, printers, and materials together to provide persuasive answers to market needs.

With a number of state-issued driver licenses and ID cards in circulation, what measures or guidelines might be most effective in fighting counterfeiting?

To thwart potential counterfeiters, many organizations add visual security elements to their ID cards, making them hard to forge.  These visual security elements can be obvious, such as the holographic icons like on a credit card, or subtle, such as microscopic text.

The most economical security element is a standard 3D holographic seal.  If the seal is removed from the card in an attempt to forge the card, it either leaves a checkerboard pattern or destroys the hologram.  Custom images add more security to the seal.

Organizations can also choose to add visual security to the laminate used on their cards.  Options include hidden text, viewable only by laser, or micro text, viewable only under high-powered magnification.  These sophisticated elements are extremely difficult and time-consuming to reproduce by a counterfeiter.

When using the HDP5000 printer, drivers licenses programs can incorporate visual security into the transfer film used for printing.  The cardholders image is printed in reverse directly onto the holographic film, and then the film is transferred to the ID card, making it very resistant to tampering.

Sunny Kim is Editor of SecurityWorld INT’L.  Send your comments to kbs@infothe.com.