Indala Corp., San Jose, Calif. announced that it has begun production of 22,000 multi-technology smart cards for Microsoft Corp. This was the second of four phases designed to replace older 32KB-chip cards used by all Microsoft employees and contractors. The previous smart cards had also been produced by Indala.

“Microsoft employees around the world use smart cards manufactured by Indala to gain access to our network, digitally sign e-mail, and gain access to corporate buildings,” said Candy Stark, the software mega-company’s security program manager. “The new cards hold a greater amount of memory than the previous cards, and give us the flexibility to support applications such as cashless vending and cafeteria payments.”