ISC West 2013: Zebra eyes possible need for millions of ID cards for immigrants

Fri, 2013-04-12 02:59 PM
By: Jacob Goodwin

As he ponders the possibility of “comprehensive immigration reform,” which could provide a new legal status for approximately 12 million currently-undocumented aliens, Ram Ramaprasad, the director of product management for ID card supplier Zebra Technologies, acknowledges that immigration reform could lead to huge new orders for ID cards, but that his company hasn’t heard anything yet along those lines from the federal government.

“So far,” he told Government Security News, at the ISC West show in Las Vegas, “we haven’t been asked.”

Even so, Ramaprasad predicted that the initial impact on Zebra and other card manufacturers is likely to be an increased demand for cards related to state-issued driver’s licenses, as well as benefit cards related to Medicare and Medicaid programs. “Driver’s licenses will show up with us in the form of consumables,” he added.

Zebra was proudly exhibiting what it called “the fastest desktop printer ever,” whose speed helps lower the per-card production cost, said Ramaprasad.

The company is selling driver’s license and ID programs in several U.S. states, Mexico, the Middle East and Asia (particularly in China, where it is servicing a handful of official “residence card” programs), he explained.

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/28915?c=border_security