Lexmark Color Laser Printers To Support Mentalix's Fingerprint Platform

Lexmark International Inc. announced March 14 that it will support Mentalix Inc.'s CardPrint API (Application Program Interface) Toolkit, a platform that provides electronic fingerprint identification systems to law enforcement agencies.

Mentalix's FBI-certified fingerprint platform developer CardPrint API Toolkit is a software programming interface. When used with Lexmark's C524 or C534 color laser printers, it allows law enforcement professionals to print FBI-certified fingerprints, demographic data, color card boundaries and color mug shots onto blank card stocks.

For law enforcement agencies, this printing platform will help overcome the current challenges of fingerprint cards that exist with pre-printed boundaries. It also aims to resolve the issue of having images attached in separate documents, making it easier for the image to be misplaced.

"Printing mug shots directly onto the fingerprint cards means less paperwork and greater efficiency, since the mug shot no longer has to be printed separately," Brian Gross, president and CEO of the Plano, Texas-based Mentalix, told eWEEK.

The new printing platform from Lexmark and Mentalix allows law enforcement users to print a variety of fingerprint card types on the same raw card stock, eliminating the need to order and stock different card types in their inventory.

The algorithm used in the CardPrint API Toolkit is tuned for the printing of fingerprint images and makes sure that ridges are not broken up or hidden.

Lexmark's C524 and C534 color laser printer platforms give law enforcement users 4800 Color Quality Printing and fingerprint images that are printed using these platforms will be accepted by the FBI so that the Bureau can compare it with its Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification system (IAFIS).

"With the C524 and C534 models, Lexmark has significantly improved print quality over the monochrome laser printers that have previously been used to fingerprint cards," Gross said.

"Lexmark's combination of vertical industry expertise and our technology ownership allows us to develop integrated, customized solutions for our customers that help them increase productivity and reduce costs," Paul Rooke, Lexmark executive vice president and president of its Printing Solutions and Services Division, said in a company release.

The printing platform from Lexmark and Mentalix is available now and is included in Mentalix's Fingerprint API Bundle package for system integrators, which includes multiple API Toolkits, and is priced at $2,500.

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International