German computer manufacturer Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme (SNI) has been awarded a US$550m contract by the Argentine ministry of the interior to create a system enabling it to issue new, machine-readable personal ID cards to the entire population over the next six years. A spokesman for the ministry said the contract also involves setting up computerized control of the country’s border posts. SNI said Siemens Nixdorf Business Services in Munich, a joint subsidiary of Siemens AG and SNI, is responsible for the project at the corporate level. Meanwhile the group’s local subsidiary, Siemens IT Services S.A. Argentina, will be the general contractor for the project, with sub-contracts to companies in Argentina, the US and Europe, They include California-based Printak for automated fingerprint identification systems, Imaging Automation from New Hampshire, for data entry, the Argentine company Boldt for security printing, Munich-based Gieseke & Devrient for their security paper and ID card production, and Indra, from Madrid, who will be responsible for system integration and the creation of a database for the electoral process, with voters using their new ID card rather than a separate voting card. Siemens Nixdorf said the contract is its largest ever in services and a major fillip for its efforts to grow its business outside Europe.
