Smart Card Solutions

In a layman's term, a smart card is like your credit card which has a microprocessor chip embedded inside it. This chip stores all the required information which has been programmed on to its memory to carry out predefined tasks. Typically, smart cards are used in our daily lives for various purposes in all industry verticals, such as access to buildings via entry/exit points, in transaction processes at shopping malls and restaurants, for claiming royalty points, in banking applications and electronic payments, at health care centers for storing medical records/personal contact information for use in emergency. And one of the most significant areas of utility being in the telecommunications sector, where they are used as mobile phone SIM cards and also prominently at college/work campus where students and staff can access the library information, cafeteria and other resources easily thereby saving valuable time and energy.

A smart card contains more information than a magnetic stripe card and it can be programmed for different applications. Some cards can contain programming and data to support multiple applications and some can be updated to add new applications after they are issued. Smart cards can be designed to be inserted into a slot and read by a special reader or to be read at a distance, such as at a toll booth. Cards can be disposable (as at a trade-show) or reloadable (for most applications).

Smart cards are secure, compact and intelligent data carriers. Smart cards should be regarded as specialized computers capable of processing, storing and safeguarding thousands of bytes of data. Smart cards have electrical contacts and a thin metallic plate just above center line on one side of the card. Beneath this dime-sized plate is an integrated circuit (IC) chip containing a central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM) and non-volatile data storage. Data stored in the smart card's microchip can be accessed only through the chip operating system (COS), providing a high level of data security. This security takes the form of passwords allowing a user to access parts of the IC chip's memory or encryption/decryption measures which translate the bytes stored in memory into useful information.

Smart cards typically hold 2,000 to 8,000 electronic bytes of data (the equivalent of several pages of data). Because those bytes can be electronically coded, the effective storage capacity of each card is significantly increased. Magnetic-stripe cards, such as those issued by banks and credit card companies, lack the security of microchips but remain inexpensive due to their status as a single-purpose card. Smart cards can be a carrier of multiple records for multiple purposes. Once those purposes are maximized, the smart card is often viewed as superior and, ultimately, less expensive. The distributed processing possible with smart cards reduces the need for ever-larger mainframe computers and the expense of local and long-distance phone circuits required to maintain an on-line connection to a central computer. Smart cards, unlike magnetic stripe cards, can carry all necessary functions and information on the card. Therefore, they do not require access to remote databases at the time of the transaction. Smart cards are defined by the ISO 7816 standards.

The most common smart card applications are:

Credit cards ?
Electronic cash
Computer security systems
Wireless communication
Loyalty systems, like frequent flyer points
Banking
Satellite TV
Government identification

Today, there are three categories of smart cards, all of which are evolving rapidly into new markets and applications:

Integrated Circuit (IC) Microprocessor Cards. Microprocessor cards (also generally referred to by the industry as "chip cards" or "IC cards") offer greater memory storage and security of data than a traditional mag stripe card. Smart cards that are chip cards or IC cards also can process data on the card. The current generation of chip cards has an eight-bit processor, 16KB read-only memory, and 512 bytes of random-access memory. This gives them the equivalent processing power of the original IBM-XT computer, albeit with slightly less memory capacity. These smart cards are used for a variety applications, especially those that have cryptography built in, which requires manipulation of large numbers. Thus, chip cards have been the main platform for cards that hold a secure digital identity. Some examples of these cards are:

Cards that hold money ("stored value cards")
Card that hold money equivalents (for example, "affinity cards)
Cards that provide secure access to a network
Cards that secure cellular phones from fraud
Cards that allow set-top boxes on televisions to remain secure from piracy

Integrated Circuit (IC) Memory Cards. IC memory cards can hold up to 1-64 KB of data, but have no processor on the card with which to manipulate that data. Thus, they are dependent on the smart card reader (also known as the card-accepting device) for their processing and are suitable for uses where the card performs a fixed operation. Memory cards represent the bulk of smart cards sold last year, primarily for pre-paid, disposable-card applications like pre-paid phone cards. Memory cards are popular high-security alternatives to mag stripe cards.

Optical Memory Cards. Optical memory cards look like a card with a piece of a CD glued on top - which is basically what they are. Optical memory cards can store up to 4 MB of data. But once written, the data can not be changed or removed. Thus, this type of card is ideal for record keeping - for example medical files, driving records, or travel histories. Today, these cards have no processor in them (although this is coming in the near future). While the cards are comparable in price to chip cards, the card readers use non-standard protocols and are expensive.