In choosing a token solution, it is important to review the actual hardware that your users will employ. Several key areas to consider are battery life, displays, interfaces, programming, size and durability. All tokens run on batteries; most will run from two to five years before the battery will need to be changed or the token replaced. Output displays typically are LCD-based though the quality and clarity of these screens varies greatly. A token should be easy to read at a glance when next to your keyboard or monitor. Consider if the interfaces on the token are easy to work with, if programming can be accomplished quickly and accurately, and if the size of the device is conducive to easy handling while not being easy to misplace. Finally, consider durability. In an interesting and unplanned test, one of our SecurID key fobs was inadvertently sent through a washing machine (warm wash/cold rinse). In this new level of testing for Network Computing, the key fob survived and continues to function flawlessly.

It's worthwhile to consider some other potential "bad token scenarios" and their ramifications. Although we couldn't stress-test the durability of the vendors' tokens, some (such as Vasco's Digipass 300) seem to be more fragile than others. Then there's always the potential of loss or theft. It will mean downtime for your user and administrative headaches if new tokens need to be issued and the missing token must be disabled or invalidated. Finally, you might just forget to take your token with you.