Replacing Passwords With Other Security Gadgets?

jfmiller asks: "I'm an intern at an anonymous government agency (not the TLA kind). I have been tasked with simplifying and increasing password security. At present each of our users must log into Novell (and winnt) then Lotus Notes, telnet into a both a local and a statewide mainframe and then log into the individual subunits of each of those systems. In all they have to remember something like 7 passwords. What technology is available to simplify this situation? What experience have people had? I'm especially interested in Biometrics. Remember: the sky's the limit, after all, it's your tax dollars at work."