The P630i is feature-rich, meeting the needs of a wide variety of mission-critical applications in government agencies, corporations and educational institutions. The P630i prints sharp full-color or monochrome cards and then applies a 1.0-mil laminate to one side of the card, creating tamper-resistant credentials that can last five years or more. Patented liner-less lamination significantly reduces the cost of laminate material, is waste free and environmentally friendly.

"The P630i lets organizations create high security photo ID cards and access control credentials reliably and quickly," explains Ram Ramaprasad, director of product management for Zebra Card printer solutions "The P630i is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly card printer in its class, with unparalleled flexibility and performance"

The P630i has a range of security options, allowing institutions to build the appropriate level of security for their application. These security features include customizable holograms and other covert features within the laminate as well as a variety of encoding options. Magnetic encoding and contact smart card encoding are available as factory-installed options. With these options, users can encode magnetic stripes and encode/read ISO 7816 contact smart chips (the most common contact smart card standard).

An optional ID/key prevents unauthorized printing and an ID/Log driver builds a customizable record of card transactions in the printer's host computer to prevent someone from accessing the database to create fraudulent cards.

With the introduction of the P630i printer, two new options are being introduced for the P630i and the P640i: an integrated linear bar code scanner and a smartcard contact station. The linear bar code scanner can be used to read unique bar codes that are pre-printed on blank card stock, allowing for the closed-loop tracking of individual cards. The contact station offers the flexibility of using proprietary external smartcard contact encoders or readers through a 9-pin connector at the back of the printer. Both of these options allow for higher levels of security features in issued cards.

The Zebra P630i incorporates a second-generation mechanical and electronics design with a redesigned chassis that uses fewer parts yet ensures proper alignment during the printing process. Flexible features and multiple options for printer, ribbons, laminate and cards provide high card issuance security for the entire card printing process.

In addition to the USB interface included in all configurations of the P630i, Zebra also offers built-in Ethernet connectivity as a factory-installed or field upgradeable option, allowing remote printing and remote encoding. Based on a 10Base-T/100Base-TX design, the printer can be administered remotely from any location within a network, shared among different users and configured with other P630i printers to form pools of printers for high-volume printing.