DED Make the Grade with Canterbury College

For one of Kent's largest colleges, security is obviously high on the agenda, with up to 6000 students on the premises at any one time, and a reputation for excellence, an effective and affordable ID card solution is essential to manage the student body at Canterbury College.

Enter Kent based distributor DED Limited with the Magicard Alto plastic card printer, ideal for such a demanding security ID application. Computing and Information Technician, David Mitchell, who has been with Canterbury college for 12 years and is responsible for the setting up and integration of such a system got in touch with DED Limited in April 2004 via the dedicated DED Magicard website (www.magicardprinters.com) to enquire about plastic card printers.

On contacting DED Limited, Mr Mitchell found the sales team to be "helpful and accommodating" and after detailed discussion, was advised that the entry level Magicard Alto would suit the needs of Canterbury College perfectly. A demonstration was booked for late April 2004, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The cost and size of the printers was a concern for Canterbury College, as not only were they working to a tight budget, but also within a space constrained environment. It was necessary for the college to buy as many printers as possible to ensure that all the sites were adequately served for enrolling new students and issuing them with ID cards. The Magicard Alto, the smallest printer in the Magicard range, filled this brief completely, and ensured that multi site card printing was made possible, ensuring enrolment could run as smoothly as possible.

Installed in August 2004, just in time for the beginning of the academic year, the Magicard Alto's are being used to print up to 6000 security ID cards at the New Dover Road and Sheppey College sites. The cards are being printed using the College's existing Oracle database and the Windows drivers supplied with the printers. With the cards featuring the Canterbury College colour logo, photo's taken by webcam, student name and barcode, it is ensured that tight security is maintained at all times.

The main bulk of the student enrolment at Canterbury College involved 14 workstations, each with a dedicated Magicard Alto card printer. Now that things have calmed down for the academic year, Canterbury College are using 5 systems around the college for printing ID security cards for student enrolment onto short courses and evening courses.

According to Mr Mitchell, the integration of the Magicard Alto card printer from DED Limited has run smoothly, and with the Magicard Alto being so simple to use, training new users on it has been a breeze.

The Magicard Alto features a drop-in ribbon cassette with RFID auto set-up and can download and print a full colour, single sided card in around 30 seconds via it's USB interface. Cardstock for the Alto is uniquely supplied in a sealed 50 card 'dispenser' to guarantee a clean card every time. The Alto is also backed by the famous Magicard two year UltraCoverPlus warranty with no hassle printhead cover and loan printer service.