Australian State Government Agency To Issue Driver's Licenses Using Over 200 Fargo Electronics HDP820 Card Printer/Encoders

Business Wire, July 18, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Fargo Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FRGO) announced today that an Australian state government agency, responsible for issuing driver's licenses, has sourced over 200 of Fargo's HDP820 Card Printer/Encoders through an Australian import supplier. Fargo expects to ship the printers in the second half of fiscal 2002.

The agency will use the Fargo card personalization systems to issue over five million new and replacement state driver's licenses during the next five years. The agency has more than 4.5 million driver's licenses currently issued.

"We are delighted that the agency selected Fargo High Definition Printers(TM) (HDP) for this project," said Gary R. Holland, Fargo's president and CEO, "as this gives it the advantages of reverse image printing and the flexibility in their choice of cards with the ability to migrate to a smart card system."

"As the second generation of HDP printers, the Fargo HDP820 offers excellent print quality and encoding technology, all in one step," said Gary Holland, Fargo's president and CEO. "By upgrading the original HDP720, Fargo provides customers around the world with the most up-to-date choice for state-of-the-art technology, and offers significantly expanded printing and encoding advantages over traditional direct-to-card printers.

"HDP technology prints images onto a special film, which is then fused into the surface of the card through heat and pressure. This unique method of applying the printed image to the card produces cards with exceptional clarity, color depth, and vibrancy," Holland noted.

"While enhancing card image quality, HDP technology significantly improves card durability and security. The graphics and text are effectively sealed within the surface of the card between the HDP Film and the blank card substrate," Holland concluded.

About Fargo

Fargo Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FRGO) is the world's leader in innovative technologies for desktop plastic card personalization systems. Based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Fargo is the only manufacturer to offer three distinct technologies in printing systems - High Definition Printing(TM) (reverse image), traditional Direct-to-Card printing (dye-sublimation), and CardJet Printing Technology(TM) (inkjet) - to personalize plastic identification cards, complete with digital images and text, lamination, and electronically encoded information.

Personalized identification cards provide physical, information, and transaction security for a wide variety of applications including Corporations, National IDs, Driver's Licenses, Universities, Schools, Government Installations, Transportation, Casinos, Healthcare Facilities, E-commerce, Retail Stores, Correctional Institutions, Associations, Sports Events and Recreation Sites. More than 60,000 Fargo systems are currently installed throughout the U.S. and in over 100 other countries. For more information, visit Fargo's Web site at http://www.fargo.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Statements made in this release concerning the company's expectations about future results or events are "forward-looking statements." Such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, and are necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements.

These risks include: product acceptance and customer demand for Fargo's card personalization systems and proprietary supplies; actions taken and alternative products marketed by Fargo's competitors; supplier relationships, including reliance on sole and single-source suppliers; lack of inventories of component parts or finished goods; our focus on the identification card personalization market; continuing technological changes in our industry; our dependence on a distribution network; domestic and international regulations and standards; our dependence on international sales; material changes in orders placed by end users; the rate of speed large end users achieve in installing multiple systems; challenges in effectively managing growth; our dependence on technologies we do not own; complex design and manufacturing delays; protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights; inadequate protection against infringement claims; adverse economic and business conditions, including conditions resulting from the terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 and the resulting hostilities; adverse changes in the Company's business and distribution network as a result of the announcement of the now-terminated acquisition of the Company by Zebra Technologies Corporation.

For more detail, see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002.