Smart cards differentiate themselves from other plastic cards with magnetic stripes by containing an embedded silicon computer chip that stores and processes values specific to each individual user.
While an innovative idea in other parts of the world, this product doesn't quite meet the high-tech procedures already in place here in the states. "Internationally, smart cards are huge," said Chris Henson, account manager for Plastic Printing Innovations in San Diego, Calif. "Here in the United States, they are not as necessary mainly because our computer networks and telecommunication set-up is far more advanced than most countries. Therefore, we really don't need to have the card doing the computations. All we need is a code integrated in a magnetic stripe to activate the information and process it."
- Companies:
- Plastic Printing
- Plastic Products
- People:
- Chester Ritchie
- Chris Henson