Governments and organizations are wanting more than one technology on a credential, says Stephen Price-Francis, vice president of marketing at LaserCard. The company was at the Smart Card Alliance conference talking about multi-technology IDs and the different technology it’s putting in a card.

“Multi-technology cards combine our technology, which is optical security media, with various chip varieties, such as RFID tags, contact chip and contactless chips,” Price-Francis says. “We are finding that our existing user and our potential customers are asking us to mix and match on one card platform.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is one agency that makes such a request. The new Permanent Resident Card, or Green card, combines optical stripe technology with an RFID tag that can be used for expedited land border crossings.

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