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To: Cents who wrote (787)	2/16/1998 9:21:00 PM
From: Ben R.	Respond to of 1220

Just to clear a few things up: First -- I was not pointing to DataCard as an investment option, I was pointing to them as a company with an integrated printer/service bureau strategy, a competitor light-years ahead of Sandia in providing solutions as opposed to merely selling product. Second, I do not want to reflect negatively on Sandia's after-market support. I have had no problem, in fact very good experience, with Sandia's tech support. They are knowledgeable and very willing to help. If, by customer support, you mean the people in charge of sales, marketing, and product development, then you understood my concerns correctly. We were drawn to Sandia, as were many in this thread, by their access to technology. Unfortunately, they are woefully unsuccessful at bringing those technologies to market. For example, we bought into their high production series of printers -- the touted advantages being low-cost printing technology and smart-chip capability. I've detailed their inability to provide smart-chip funtionality in a timely and fully-integrated manner; it turns out that not only did the low-cost printing capability not work, WE discovered that deficiency AFTER receiving the printer and informed them --- they hadn't tested it and didn't know. Also, unlike most printers, they use a proprietary print driver setup. (the others use standard Windows driver technology). This inhibits software vendors from porting their products for Sandia's printers. As a result, and contrary to their marketing, there is only one imaging software package that integrates with their line. NOTE: It did not exist when we got our printer, and exists now, in great part, because WE (not Sandia) worked with the software people to develop the capability. (I'm not sure how this inflexibility bodes for a group trying to enter the service bureau arena.) Some semblance of brevity precludes me from detailing a myriad more examples of errors of omission and commission (some accidental, some intentional). If their past success with the above-referenced line of printers, Glyphs (don't they actually have a VP in charge of Glyphs ?), optical/laser card, smart cards, etc is a predictor of the future, then your due diligence (obviously better than ours) is well founded. Best of Luck, --- Ben