Smart cards are defined according to 1). How the card data is read and written 2). The type of chip implanted within the card and its capabilities. There is a wide range of options to choose from when designing your system.
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| Types of Smart Card |
Contact Card
Contactless Card
Multi Component Card
A smart card, typically a type of chip card, is a plastic card that contains an embedded computer chip–either a memory or microprocessor type–that stores and transacts data. This data is usually associated with either value, information, or both and is stored and processed within the card's chip. The card data is transacted via a reader that is part of a computing system. Systems that are enhanced with smart cards are in use today throughout several key applications, including healthcare, banking, entertainment, and transportation. All applications can benefit from the added features and security that smart cards provide. According to Eurosmart, worldwide smart card shipments will grow 10% in 2010 to 5.455 billion cards. Markets that have been traditionally served by other machine readable card technologies, such as barcode and magnetic stripe, are converting to smart cards as the calculated return on investment is revisited by each card issuer year after year.
