scards..2004?

Italy Places $3.8 Million Optical Card Order


The Italian government placed a $3.8 million order for LaserCard optical memory cards slated for use as part of Italy’s new national ID card, the Carta d’Identita Elettronica (CIE). LaserCard Systems Corp., a subsidiary of U.S.-based Drexler Technology Corp, announced the contract award today. The new ID cards, which contain both an optical stripe and a smart card chip, will record each citizen’s demographics, color photograph, digitized signature, and other biometrics onto the CIE card’s optical memory stripe. Optical stripe technology is similar to compact disks and can store more than 2 megabytes of information. The CIE uses a 1-megabyte optical stripe. The new order is scheduled to be delivered by June 2004. In July, the Italian government placed a $2.4 million card order, which should be completed by the end of March 2004, Drexler says.