Encoding contact smart cards
Contact smart cards have been in use over the past 25 years, and more than a billion cards have been circulated so far.
A smart card is a plastic card the size of a credit card, which comes with an integrated chip. This chip can host 100 times more data than a magnetic stripe. It can be reconfigured to add, erase or edit any hosted data.
The encoding process at a glance
Data personalization (encoding) on smart cards is performed in a seamless way for the card holder. The process varies according to the target smart card, with different implementation processes and levels of complexity.
Overall, just like any computer, binary data are written in a miniaturized electronic circuit.
Smart card encoding with Evolis
To personalize chips, Zenius, Primacy, Primacy Lamination, Elypso, Quantum 2, Avansia, KC200, KC200B, KM500B, KM2000B offer an optional contact SMART station, compliant with the ISO 7816-2 data encoding standard.
These printers also feature a DB-9 connector, directly linked to the SMART contact station, and that accepts an external reader/encoder to configure the chip.
This highly flexible personalization solution will fully encode any contact SMART card within minutes.