News
Fargo and CardSmart Announce Alliance
CardSmart
Technologies Joins Fargo Technology Alliance;
Will
Promote Effective, Advanced
CardSmart
Technologies will become one of the inaugural members of
the Fargo Technology Alliance. “We believe that joining this Alliance
will allow us to introduce our products and services to a vital, important
audience: more than 2,100 distribution partners of Fargo Electronics.
These systems integrators and resellers, in turn, will gain access to
sophisticated smart card application software, hardware and solutions,”
said Mike McClain, President of CardSmart
Technologies.
“We are
pleased that CardSmart Technologies
is a founding member of the Fargo Technology Alliance,” said Gary R.
Holland, president and CEO of Fargo. “By teaming Fargo’s international
network of Distribution Partners with the very best smart card application
software developers and manufacturers, we can all become more effective
smart card solution providers”
Alliance members will also participate
in special Technology Showcase events with Fargo’s Distribution Partners
in conjunction with conferences and trade shows. The first Fargo Technology
Showcase will take place from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Monday, May 14th
in Las Vegas, the day prior to the start of the CardTech/SecurTech 2001
trade show, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. According to David
Fisher, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of CardSmart
Technologies, “CardSmart
will have a team of engineers at CardTech/SecureTech and is looking
forward to supporting the Fargo Technology Showcase.” Fisher added,
“We will be available to discuss specific applications and technology
with Fargo’s distribution partners.”
“The use of advanced technology, such as smart cards and proximity cards, is creating new opportunities for distributed card personalization systems,” Holland noted. “In just a few short years, Fargo card personalization technology has expanded from relatively simple systems for providing door access to much more complex personalization systems in the education, loyalty, healthcare, e-commerce and mass transit markets, just to name a few. At the same time, card encoding has increased from relatively simple bar code and magnetic stripe cards to complex schemes with smart cards, proximity cards, and hybrid cards.”
The
primary goal of the Fargo Technology Alliance is to increase the sale
of smart card products, card personalization systems and services, according
to Joseph Schuler, Fargo’s Electronic Card Program Manager. “The program
is designed to pull together a wide range of expertise and products,
provide information on technology and markets, and create a network
of relationships to promote successful business-to-business partnering.
Further, we believe this Alliance will quickly become a valuable resource
that will help set Alliance member’s solutions apart from the competition.”
Fargo Technology
Alliance Members will be listed on www.fargo.com,
as well as on a web site accessible only to Fargo’s resellers. In addition,
they have agreed to:
1.
Utilize their
respective skills, abilities, research, products, expertise and marketing
in developing leading edge, competitive offerings in the identification
card market,
2.
Integrate relevant
products from Fargo into their offerings,
3.
Cooperate in
mutually agreed upon joint marketing efforts,
4.
Provide Web site links to www.fargo.com,
and
5.
When
appropriate, cooperate in developing new products.
About
CardSmart
Technologies
CardSmart
Technologies, Inc. headquartered
in Morristown, New Jersey, is a premier provider of total solutions
for ID card-based marketing and security applications. The company provides
whatever is necessary to ensure the successful performance of its products
and services. This includes project consultation, software development,
hardware integration, installation, training, fulfillment services and
follow-up technical support. For more information, see CardSmart
Technologies web site at www.yourcardsolution.com
About
Fargo
Fargo Electronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRGO) is the world’s leader in innovative technologies for
desktop plastic card personalization systems. Based in Eden Prairie,
Minnesota, Fargo printing systems create personalized plastic identification
cards complete with digital images and text, lamination, and electronically
encoded information.
Personalized
identification cards provide physical, information and transaction security
for a wide variety of applications including retail stores, e-commerce,
government installations, schools, sports and recreation facilities,
clubs and associations, and correctional facilities. More than 50,000
Fargo systems are currently installed throughout the U.S. and in 76
other countries. For more information, visit Fargo’s website at
http://www.fargo.com.
