The First Barium Ferrite Card
The inventor of the barium ferrite reader came to us in 1970 to develop a card for it. We did, and it became Card Key's main product for the next 20 years.

The First Proximity Card
We developed the first proximity cards for Proximity Devices, Inc. in 1971, and that company went on to become Schlage Electronics.

Differential Optics Reader Technology
We invented and patented the worlds' first solid state electronic card reader in 1972. When the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Test Lab ranked it as the highest security card and reader ever, Johnson Controls made it the only technology it would sell with its JC/80 security system for the next ten years.

This technology was also discovered by France's largest (7,000 employees) security company, Fichet-Bauche.  Fichet purchased and exclusive license from us in 1973 and became Europe's first access control systems manufacturer.

Today, there are still more than 350 Differential Optics systems still in operation, and still supported.

The First Stand-Alone  Card Reader With A Memory
This is the reader APD used to revolutionize the parking business. It meant the end to quarterly parking card replacements. When a cardholder didn't pay, the card could be deleted from memory. We introduced this reader to the industry in 1973, and thousands were sold.

The World's First "PC" Based Security System
When Radio Shack introduced the first mass produced Personal Computer in 1980, we speculated that this would quickly become the standard for the future. We developed the worlds' first security system based on a personal computer, and the first system was sold to the Coca Cola Bottling Company's World Headquarters in Atlanta in April of 1981. Federal APD went on to market our Radio Shack TRS-80 system making it the parking industry's first "PC" based system.

The "PC" Smart Cartridge
We put the Personal Computer in a box that will fit in the palm of your hand, bringing high end PC level functionality to one or more remote stand-alone readers. Verizon (GTE) is one customer that has more than 600 remote buildings using a Smart Cartridge to control security. A central software program can call them automatically to make card programming changes.

Microsoft Access, Open Architecture and Open Source
With an industry now tired of battling obsolescence, and proprietary software, we introduced the first fully open system using the off-the-shelf version of the world's most popular data management system, Access Central.