Technology continues to march forward and its effects on ID cards continues to provide challenges and opportunities. We approach card technology the same way we approach hardware. We investigate all new opportunities and offer the best of these to enhance our customer solutions. View Card Technology

Barcode and Magnetic Stripe cards
Bar codes are the most commonly used on cards to identify a person or a product. Bar codes are printed on the surface of a PVC card and often contain minimal information and are low security. Typically a bar code is assigned to a person or a product as the number that identifies who the person is or what the product is. Bar codes are represented by black vertical lines on a white background; bar code readers are looking for the contrast between the black lines and the white background.

A magnetic stripe is the black or brown stripe that you can see on your credit card, or maybe the back of your airline ticket or transit card. The stripe is made up of tiny magnetic particles in a resin. The particles are either applied directly to the card or made into a stripe on a plastic backing which is applied to the card. The magnetic stripe can be programmed with numbers and personal information and used to identify people or information with the programmed information.

Proximity cards
A proximity card (prox card) is a card that allows the reader to read the card without having to swipe the card. The reader emits a signal that is picked up by the antenna in the card. The card sends back encrypted identifying information that is read by the reader.

Smart cards
The capacity of smart cards has improved greatly over the past few years. Use of smart cards also has gained its popularity, thus driving down the cost to a 10 to 15 percent premium over prox cards. Smart card unlike prox cards that talks to any reader that will listen, they go through a complicated authentication to prove the both the card and reader are valid and authorized to talk to each other. Smart cards are ideal for high security access control. They're the most secure cards available on the market.

Print technology allows us to increase security as needed by the ability to print holograms on cards. It prevents cards being easily duplicated. Holograms can be custom designed to be embedded within the card by the manufacturer or printed as a layer during badging process.