​In order to provide a more consistent and quality experience for customers, Entrust Datacard created a new line of “Regional Ribbons” that are now available from licensed resellers. Regionalized ribbons help ensure that customers receive superior quality and performance from their equipment – superior quality and performance achieved only when their Datacard® system is matched with Datacard® Certified Supplies for seamless high-quality printed card output.
 
All CD/CE/SD printers shipped after August 2016 are regional ribbon ready. Regional settings are activated in your printer with the first use of an R010 regionalized printer ribbon. 
 
Regional ribbons have a smaller footprint and offer less waste than legacy ribbons. Regional ribbons are more efficient, allowing Datacard to present the YMCT-KT ribbon with a higher yield than the previous version (legacy product). Regional ribbons are also less expensive than legacy ribbons due to material and manufacturing increases, so the sooner you move to regionalize printing, the more savings you will realize.
 
IMPORTANT – If you have legacy ribbons, you should use these first. Once you activate the regional settings by using a regional ribbon you will not be able to use legacy ribbons in YMCKT 250, YMCKT 500, ymcKT & YMCKT-KT formats.
 
Regional ribbons are easy to spot, even out of the box, as they are slightly shorter in ribbon height and also shorter in panel length compared to legacy ribbons. The core and cartridge are lighter and use less plastic.
 
How do I know if my printer is regionalized?
If your printer was shipped after August 2016, your printer already has the necessary firmware upgrade. It just isn’t activated yet. Printers become Regionalized when a regional ribbon is used in the printer. After the regional ribbon “talks” to the firmware, the printer will no longer be capable of using non-regional ribbons, specifically the YMCKT 250, YMCKT 500, ymcKT & YMCKT-KT formats. A regionalized printer will display the Region code to the left of the printer model number on the LCD screen. For the United States of America the region code is 010. Ribbons will include R010 in the item number.
 
Regionalized printers will not recognize a ribbon or allow printing if a ribbon from another region is used. The printer is looking for the specific region code from the initial regionalized ribbon. The following error would appear on the LCD: Supply region not valid 224.
 
Regionalized printers require regional ribbons for YMCKT 250, YMCKT 500, ymcKT & YMCKT-KT formats only. These item numbers include R010 for ribbons to use in North American printers. Other ribbon formats will still work in regionalized machines. All other color panel formats, monochrome and other ribbon types will continue to function as normal.
 
The SP & CP series card printers cannot be upgraded for use with regional ribbons and will continue to use their existing supplies. For more information, contact Bridgeway Solutions' technical support at 828-438-1676, email cathyc@bridgewayid.com