Zebra announces P330i® Card Printer/Encoder
27 October, 2004
category: Education
Zebra has come out with its next generation card printer, the P330i, which has a newly designed card feeder that uses the weight of the card stack to ensure consistent feeding. Card capacity has more than doubled and its printhead now automatically adjusts to uneven card surfaces.
The next generation of the largest-selling card printer family
CAMARILLO, Calif.-Zebra Technologies, a worldwide leader in barcode labeling and card printing solutions, has introduced the Zebra P330i® desktop card printer/encoder, the next generation of the world’s most popular card printer. The Zebra P330i is a single-sided, full color plastic card printer/encoder that is extremely feature-rich, meeting the needs of a wide variety of applications and industries with proven reliability for mission-critical applications in corporations, government agencies, educational institutions and retail environments.
Building on the proven reliability of the Zebra P310® printer and adding major design improvements throughout, the P330i provides enhanced flexibility, ease of use and dependability. New, innovative features let organizations reliably create high quality photo ID cards, secure access control cards, financial cards (debit, credit, phone cards, etc.), membership cards and more.
“The P330i represents the intelligent evolution of the Zebra P310 product family, which has been the benchmark of the industry for over four years,” explained Bob Anderson, Director of Marketing for Zebra Card Printer Solutions. “The P330i is now the most powerful and reliable card printer in its class, with unsurpassed flexibility, performance and reliability.”
Innovative Design Improvements
A new, patent-pending card feeder system provides reliability via simplicity, using the weight of the card stack itself to ensure consistent feeding. The P330i supports the range of card thickness used worldwide, printing on cards as thin as 10-mil or as thick as 60-mil proximity cards. The new design allows the card feeder capacity to be increased from 100 cards to 220 cards (30-mil) with the simple addition of two plastic extension pieces and three screws. This option increases user efficiency, reducing the need for user interaction. Users can load up to 200 cards at a time without having to stop the printing process.
The P330i’s new, patent-pending printhead assembly has been redesigned with a “floating gimbal” action that automatically adjusts to uneven card surfaces, delivering a more consistent image across the card. For user convenience, the new assembly provides easier ribbon loading and printhead cleaning.
A number of encoding options will soon be available with the P330i. Magnetic stripe encoding and a smart card encoding station will be available as factory-installed options. With these options, users can encode magnetic stripes and encode/read three types of smart card technology: ISO 7816 contact smart chips (the most common contact smart card standard), MIFARE® and iCLASS® contactless smart chips.
In addition to the USB interface included in all configurations of the P330i, Zebra also offers built-in Ethernet connectivity as a factory-installed or field upgradeable option. Based on a next-generation 10Base-T/100Base-TX design, the printer can be administered remotely from any location using ZebraNet® Print Server utility software. In the future, “one-cable” encoding will be offered via Ethernet, allowing remote printing and remote encoding.
User convenience features include an LCD display, translucent covers for print viewing and a patented cleaning cartridge. Advanced RFID technology makes P330i printer configuration quick and easy, with automatic ribbon type detection and correct setup for quality card printing. The integrated card output hopper slides back into the enclosure when not in use to avoid being lost or damaged.
For easy setup, the i Series WindowsÒ drivers work with MicrosoftÒ WindowsÒ 2000 and XP to provide plug-and-play operation. As with all i Series printers, the P330i utilizes Zebra TrueColoursÒ ribbons. Zebra’s color formulation produces superior print quality and a more accurate range of color reproduction.
Product Availability
The P330i will be available beginning December 1, 2004. The P330i will be demonstrated to the public at the Cartes trade show in Paris, France November 2-4, 2004.
About Zebra Card Printer Solutions
A world leader in desktop card printers, Zebra Card Printer Solutions is a division of Zebra Technologies Corporation, which delivers innovative and reliable on-demand printing solutions to businesses and governments in more than 90 countries around the world. A broad range of applications benefit from Zebra brand thermal barcode label and receipt printers and plastic card printers (formerly branded Eltron®), resulting in enhanced security, increased productivity, improved quality, lower costs and better customer service. Information about Zebra card printers can be found at www.zebracard.com. Information about Zebra Technologies can be found at www.zebra.com.
