Magstripe Technology…

The Before…..

And After

Story

The first prototype of magnetic stripe card created by IBM in the late 1960s

Today’s Cards

DEFINITIONA Magnetic Stripe Card is a type of card capable of storing data

by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card.

The magnetic stripe, sometimes called Swipe Card or Magstripe, is read by swiping past a magnetic reading head.

Magnetic stripe cards are commonly used in credit cards, identity cards,

and transportation tickets. They may also contain an RFID tag, a transponder device and/or a microchip

mostly used for business premises access control or electronic payment.

So…That’s What It

Is !

The Before StoryIt all started with Forrest Parry in 1969

The major development of the magnetic striped plastic card began

in 1969 at the IBM Information Records Division. Forrest Parry,an IBM engineer, had the idea of securing a piece of magnetic tape, the predominant storage medium at the time, to a plastic card base. He became frustrated because every adhesive he

tried produced unacceptable results. The tape strip either warped or

its characteristics were affected by the adhesive, rendering the

tape strip unusable.

After a frustrating day in the laboratory, trying to get the right adhesive, he came home with several pieces of magnetic tape and several plastic cards.

As he walked in the door at home…

… His wife Dorothea was ironing clothing. When he explained the

source of his frustration: inability to get the tape to "stick" to the plastic in a way that would work, she suggested that

he use the iron to melt the stripe on. He tried it and it worked. The heat of the iron was just high enough to bond the tape to the card.

This is how a reliable way of securing magnetic stripes to plastic cards was developed, via a hot stamping

method. This engineering effort resulted in IBM IRD producing the first magnetic striped plastic credit and ID cards

used by banks, insurance companies, hospitals and many others…

Way to go

Dorothea !

And Then …The After Story

After many years, Magstripe Technolgy has become a very widely used technology for financial institutions

and hospitality industries.

Following are some key points and considerations for Magstripe applications.

Let’s discover them together…

Two Types of Magstripes

High-coercivity (HiCo) Low-coercivity (LoCo)

Requires a higher amount of magnetic energy to encode

Harder to erase and resistant to damage from most magnets likely to be owned by consumers

Appropriate for cards that are frequently used, such as a credit card

Other card uses include time and attendance tracking, access control, library cards, employee ID cards and gift cards

Requires a lower amount of magnetic energy to record

Cheaper card writers Much easier to erase and have a

shorter lifespan. Easily damaged by even a brief contact with a magnetic purse strap

LoCo applications include hotel room keys, time and attendance tracking, bus/transit tickets and season passes for theme parks

Because of this, virtually all bank cards today are encoded on high coercivity stripes despite a slightly higher per-unit

cost

MAGSTRIPE Key Cards : A Keycard’s magnetic strip, also called Magstripe, uses

information stored within it when scanned

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Cost effective & Recyclable

Maximizes security and privacy

Eliminates the need for changing locks and providing keys for those locks

Locks can be programmed for certain type of keys

Keycards reduce the need to carry multiple keys

Average lifespan is around 300 to 400 uses

Easy detoriation caused by friction, scatches, dirt or damage

This makes the card misread easily or even unusable

Today

Smart Cards are a newer generation of card that contain an integrated circuit.

Some smart cards have metal contacts to electrically connect the card to the

reader, and contactless cards use a magnetic field or radio frequency (RFIID) for proximity reading.

Hybrid smart cards include a magnetic stripe in addition to the chip — this most commonly found in a payment card, so that the cards are also compatible with payment terminals that do not include a smart card reader.

Cards with all three features: Magnetic stripe, smart card chip, and RFID chip are also becoming common as more activities require the use of such cards.

STAY TUNED !

Next week, we’ll talk about

WEIGAND…

Who is he???