One of these types may be helpful in constructing a card printing/encoding solution for your requirements. Please find below a brief description of the most significant technology cards being used today.

Contact Smart Cards

Contact smart cards are the size of a conventional credit or debit card. The contain a single, embedded, integrated circuit chip that contains either just memory or memory plus a microprocessor.

Memory-only chips are functionally similar to a small floppy disk. They are less expensive than microprocessor chips, but they also offer less security. They should not be used to store sensitive or valuable information.

Smart Card

Chips that contain both memory and a microprocessor are again similar to a small floppy disk, except they contain an "intelligent" controller that is used to securely add, delete, change, and update information contained in the chip's memory. The more sophisticated microprocessor chips have state-of-the-art security features built in to protect the contents of memory from unauthorized access.

Contact smart cards must be inserted into a card acceptor device. Pins attached to this reader make "contact" with pads on the surface of the card to read and store the information contained in the card's chip. This type of e-card is used to assist with network security, vending, meal plans, loyalty programs, electronic cash transfers, government IDs, campus IDs, e-commerce, health cards, and many more applications.

Contactless Smart Cards

Contactless smart cards attach embedded antennas, instead of contact pads, to their chips. Contactless cards do not have to be inserted into a card acceptor device. Instead, they need only be passed within range of a radio frequency acceptor to read and store the information on the chip. The range of operation is typically from about 2.5" to 3.9" (63.5mm to 99.06mm) depending on the acceptor.

Contactless smart cards are used in many of the same applications as contact smart cards, especially where the added convenience and speed of not having to insert the card into a reader is desirable. There is a growing acceptance of this type of card for both physical and logical access control applications. Student identification, electronic passport, vending, parking and tolls are common applications for contactless cards.