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3M QS1000 Pic 1

Gemalto by Thales has sunset the QS1000 ID & passport scanner

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In an effort to continuously provide our customers the most up-to-date ID scanning news and industry trends, we are providing a brief overview of the sunset of the Gemalto by Thales QS1000 ID & Passport Scanner.

Initially offered by 3M, then Gemalto when 3Ms identity management business was acquired by Gemalto in December 2016 bringing around $850 million in value to the brand. Gemalto was subsequently purchased by Thales in early 2019. Thales is an industry leader in many technologies, with seven global divisions. At the time the QS1000 was Gemalto’s device of choice for businesses looking to scan both passports and IDs, but not requiring deeper ID authentication capabilities. It was the device of choice for many banks, hotels, and rental businesses who included ID scanning as part of their check-in processes.

January 1, 2014

QS1000 Released

Gemalto released 1 the QS1000 ID & passport scanner

January 1, 2014
April 1, 2019

French identity tech company Thales purchases Gemalto

At this time the QS1000 line was folded under the Thales brand

April 1, 2019
July 1, 2020

Thales announces the QS2000 ID & passport scanner

The QS2000 is announced as the product that will supercede the QS1000

July 1, 2020
November 1, 2020

QS2000 Released

First orders are filled for the QS2000 ID & passport scanner

November 1, 2020
December 23, 2022

Thales ends support for the QS1000 scanner

Customers will need to upgrade their scanning devices

December 23, 2022

Thales elected to end production of the QS1000 upon acquisition of Gemalto. Thales was developing a newer more advanced offering, the Thales QS2000 ID & passport scanner, a highly reliable full page document reader with a new smaller more contemporary designed outer housing.

The QS2000 keeps the QS1000 spirit alive with features to include: 400 DPI camera, Visible and IR image capture, Reads 1D and 2D barcodes, OCR and MRZ support. It is lightweight and durable with no moving parts, and is USB powered.

Designed for capturing driver license data and other travel and identity documents, the Thales QS2000 has a large hooded glass which works exceptionally well in brightly lit or dark environments, such as outdoors (IP54 rating) and bars and restaurants. Documents do not need to be centered on the glass and may be placed at any angle. The QS2000 will auto correct the image alignment and show perfectly straight images on screen. It also provides accurate data capture and auto form fill (software required). Excellent for hospitality, retail, visitor management and many more industries.

Customers who are using the QS1000 scanner are advised to upgrade to the QS2000 ID scanner, as manufacturing support for the QS1000 ended in December 2022, meaning all warranties are void and the manufacturer will no longer provide parts support. Luckily, the QS2000 scanner is fully compatible and can be easily swapped in to replace the sunset QS1000.

Best Passport Scanners

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Passport scanners are an essential tool for businesses that need to verify identity. They are the preferred tool for bars, nightclubs, and dispensaries which serve a global clientele and regularly need to scan documents other than driver’s licenses. They are also used

Having the ability to scan passports provides flexibility for customers who may not have a driver’s license or ID. A passport is often used as a backup identification document when someone loses their wallet.

Additionally, post-pandemic, travel has rebounded. Border restrictions have been lifted and international travel has grown due to years of pent-up demand. International travel, border crossings, and international identity verification all requires passport scanning.

Here’s our top picks for passport scanners to help you quickly scan passports, parse data stored inside the passport MRZ, and verify identity quickly and securly.

Best Overall Passport Scanner | Thales (formerly Gemalto) AT10K

The Thales AT10K is a full-page passport and document reader with a flatbed. It is the best-in-class passport scanning device, designed to meet the needs to high security environments such as border management, banking, hospitality, and travel. The desktop passport scanner is perfect for those locations needing to capture and authenticate passports, green cards, and other print identity documents. While it does capture passports, it can also authenticate driver’s licenses as well, so you’ll be able to scan passports in addition to catching fake IDs with ID authentication.

The AT10K is efficient from a business perspective, but also a customer perspective. With built in LED “landing lights”, customers are easily guided to proper placement of documents upon the scanner, as well as a green signal when they are able to remove their document from the scanner. The anti-glare technology is able to reduce document reflections and ambient light so that the images are captured with as much accuracy as possible, making it the perfect option for kiosks, airport eGates, cruise terminals and more.

Read more about the AT10K here.

Best Countertop Passport Scanner | IDWare Falcon

We created the IDWare Falcon tablet passport and ID scanner specifically to help customers looking to create a countertop check-in solution. It is perfect for those establishments that need accuracy, but also mobility. A fantastic feature of the IDWare Falcon is that it can either be mounted on a stand for a desktop solution, or you can attach the hand strap and it instantly becomes a mobile solution for scanning passports on the go. This passport scanner can also be used on or offline which makes it a great option for those with spotty WiFi. 

The IDWare Falcon has a whopping 8 LCD inch screen, and the built-in scanner is able to read 1D and 2D barcodes, PDF417, NFC and MRZs. This makes it especially good for those businesses that get a lot of international visitors that may not have a United States driver’s license. The built in VeriScan ID scanning software comes with visitor management, which lets you classify patrons into categories such as VIPs, frequent guests, and banned individuals. It is important to note, however, that while the IDWare Falcon is able to scan, validate, and verify the age and expiration date of an identification document, it is unable to authenticate identity documents. So if you need a scanner that will authenticate documents, there might be better options out there for your business. 

Best Passport Scanner for Authenticating Global Documents | IDWare 7017

Another solid desktop solution is the IDWare 7017. This scanner is another option that is able to scan passports, green cards, visas, driver’s licenses, etc., as well as RFIDs with an available upgrade. This scanner is able to automatically detect documents when they are placed upon the flatbed surface. The passport scanner then captures images in white illumination mode and the data is sent for further processing via SDK.

This is a great option for those businesses that get a lot of customers with international driver’s licenses, but not necessarily passports. It is able to scan the international IDs with VeriScan Global. The only downside is the relatively large profile, meaning you need desktop space to accommodate this passport scanner.

Best Handheld Passport Scanner | Zebra TC21

A great option for a handheld scanner is the Zebra TC21. Similar to the Falcon, it has the capability to scan both driver’s licenses and passports, and features a run time of up to 10 hours. This device can be used both on or offline which can be an essential function for companies delivering age restricted products, or even for bouncers that are too far away from the Wi-Fi inside. This scanner also has the built in VeriScan visitor management system, so if the classification of patrons into categories such as VIPs, frequent guests, and banned individuals is an important feature, this is another great option for you. From an affordability standpoint, this scanner is able to have multiple configurations making it an option that can easily fit into almost any budget.

This is an easy handheld option for those that will be holding the scanner for hours on end. For those businesses that need to verify age such as bars, nightclubs, etc., this is and ideal solution.

Need help choosing the right scanner for you?

Whether you are a bank needing to authenticate the passport of your newest international client, or a bar on the Vegas strip just trying to verify someone’s age before allowing them in for a night of fun, the options above provide a range of functionality that will work for any business. If you still need more guidance and information before making your final decision, be sure to contact one of our industry experts, and we will be more than happy to help you make the best decision for your business.

What is the difference between RFID and MRZ?

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Over the past 5-10 years, most national passports have been transitioning from the primary data storage format of MRZ to RFID. Both formats are intended to speed up border crossings and customs interactions by making passports scannable by specific cameras and hardware. Instead of manually reading a passport an agent can scan the document and immediately ingest a variety of fields.

Machine Readable Zone (MRZ)

Global organization ICAO sets the standards for passport designs and readability. There are currently three MRZ sizes, but the two most common are:

“Type 3”  – passport booklets: 2 lines × 44 characters

“Type 1” – passport cards – 3 lines × 30 characters

The dimensions of the effective reading zone (ERZ) is standardized at 17.0 mm in height with a margin of 3 mm at the document edges and 3.2 mm at the edge against the visual readable part. This is in order to allow use of a single machine reader.

Only characters A to Z (upper case), 0–9, and < (angle bracket) are allowed. The typeface is universally OCR-B, a typeface which is ideal for optical character recognition.

The following information is stored within the MRZ on all travel documents:

  • document type
  • document holder name 
  • document number
  • Nationality
  • date of birth
  • sex
  • document expiration date

MRZ has been the worldwide standard since the 1980’s. It is an easy format that anyone can use. However, wear and tear on the passport can render it unreadable. It is also limited in the amount of information that can be stored – because of this some fields such as long names, may be truncated.

rfid

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

RFID, also known as “a chip” or “biometric passports” stores all of the information, and more, on a chip which is embedded inside the hardcover of the passport. It is the same technology used for embedding a chip into a pet for finding them when they get lost. It is intended to be read only by a device within 4 inches of the physical chip

Unlike MRZ, ICAO has not set a standard for what information must be stored inside an RFID chip on a passport. For American citizens, there is no personal information stored on the RFID tag, simply a reference code to a file the government keeps on you and agents can access at passport control. Most other countries store data directly on the chip itself. For Europeans this typically means all of the information about you is inside of the passport (e.g. name, date of birth, etc.) plus your photo and fingerprints. Most countries attempt to perform some type of encryption on the RFID chip to protect sensitive data.

Currently, 160 countries have some type of RFID. Notable national passports that do not contain a chip and still rely on MRZ exclusively are India, South Africa, Egypt, Cuba, Ethiopia and many more countries in Central America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. India plans to start issuing biometric passports in 2022.

Benefits of RFID vs. MRZ

  • A larger storage capacity that includes the ability to store images, as well as avoiding truncation
  • Harder to damage with less wear and tear
  • Embedded in the document, so does not take away visual real estate on the document
  • All data is transmitted and can be verified near instantaneously
  • Substantially harder to fabricate

Although MRZ is much cheaper to produce, and MRZ-readers are cheaper to manufacture, it appears that most nations are making the investment in the superior identity data storage format. 

rfid

ID Scanners That Can Read Both

Passport scanning and passport parsing can be performed on both MRZ and RFID, however the IDScan.net passport parsing SDK only works on MRZ.

For hardware that can handle both MRZ reading/parsing and RFID reading, take a look at our AT10K and AT9000 which can do both, in addition to reading drivers’ licenses and state IDs. IDScan.net offers a variety of solutions that can scan and parse the necessary information to keep security at a maximum and wait times to a minimum. 

Still not sure? Contact us and let one of our industry experts help to guide your company to the right solution that will help you remain compliant and efficient. With summer travel picking up, and security queue times at record highs, the time to upgrade your scanning solution is now. 

3M CR100 Pic

About the Thales (Formerly 3M, Formerly Gemalto) CR100 Passport/Document Reader

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This post was updated on June 10, 2023.

The Thales CR100 ID & Passport Reader is a secure and reliable identity verification device developed by Thales (formerly Gemalto) specifically created for scanning passports and other MRZ documents. The CR100 is popular because it allows for swiping of an MRZ (machine readable zone), unlike other passport scanners which use a full-page flatbed.

The CR100 ID scanner is a compact and durable design that makes it ideal for use in a variety of environments, particularly travel environments such as airports, customs agents, border patrol, duty free shops, and airports.

The device is equipped with a high-resolution camera and advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology, which allows it to accurately scan and read government-issued IDs, passports, and other secure documents.

cr100 reader

Identity Documents Compatible With the Thales CR100 Passport Reader

The Thales CR100 reader is capable of scanning and reading a variety of secure and government-issued documents that contain any of the three types of machine readable zones:

  • TD 1 – 3 line ID cards
  • TD2 – Certain visas and travel documents
  • TD3 2 line passport booklets

Passports

The CR100 was designed specifically to read passport MRZs quickly and efficiently. It can read full passport booklets in a single swipe. The user must scan the passport on the first page with the MRZ facing inward towards the scanning camera. The CR100 can then transmit the parsed data into databases or visitor management applications.

Passport Cards

The CR100 is also capable of scanning smaller passport cards. Passport cards contain a smaller MRZ that has less data, but are still used for travel in certain scenarios. Thes

Magstripe (msr)

CR100M only. The CR100M is also capable of scanning magnetic stripes as used on credit cards. This makes the CR100M ideal for duty free shops where a passport and credit card are scanned in quick succession. Other cards which store information in a magstripe symbology can also be scanned using the CR100M, depending on the software it is integrated with.

It’s important to note that the specific types of documents that the CR100 reader is capable of scanning may vary depending the software being used. While the hardware has robust capabilities, in order to ingest the fields the software must have mappable fields.

What is the difference between the CR100 and the CR100M?

The CR100M is also capable of reading MSR (magstripe) which allows it so scan credit cards and other documents which use a magstripe symbology/

Security Features of the CR100 and CR100M ID Readers

In addition to its advanced verification capabilities, the CR100 reader is also equipped with a number of security features that protect against tampering and unauthorized access. The device is designed with a secure housing that is tamper-proof, and it also features encryption technologies that protect the data stored on the device. This helps to ensure that sensitive information is kept confidential and secure at all times.

Another benefit of the CR100 reader is its ease of use. The device is designed to be user-friendly, with a simple and intuitive interface that makes it easy for operators to use. The CR100 reader is also designed to be portable, making it possible to use the device in a variety of locations and situations. This makes it an ideal solution for organizations that need to verify the identities of individuals in remote or unconventional locations, such as polling stations or disaster relief centers.

The CR100 reader is also highly customizable, with a range of options and configurations that allow organizations to tailor the device to meet their specific needs. For example, the device can be configured to work with a variety of different languages and scripts, making it possible to use the CR100 reader in a variety of different countries and regions.

cr100 reader

In conclusion, the Thales CR100 passport reader is a secure, reliable, and user-friendly device that is designed to meet the demands of organizations that need to verify the identities of individuals in a variety of applications. With its advanced verification capabilities, secure design, and ease of use, the CR100 reader is an excellent choice for organizations looking to improve the security and efficiency of their identity verification processes.

The 3M CR100 Reader is a standalone USB-connected device that will read any MRZ encrypted passport or document.  Combined with our WizzForms software, you can quickly scan any passport and collect information including name, gender, date of birth, and nationality.  

Thales CR100 Hardware Driver

You can download the CR100 and CR100M hardware drivers on our hardware drivers page.

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