Smart Cards

Smart cards have been in use for over two decades, primarily for storing small amounts of money for specialized purposes. People carry them to pay for telephone calls, transportation, photocopying in libraries and the like. These cards have become very popular in Europe and Asia. Recently, the use of smart cards has expanded considerably through the use of micro processor chips. For example, in several countries smart cards are used as identification cards which include information raneine from health status and insurance to retirement benefits.The latest development in smart cards technology is its Internet related applications, which are mostly related to the support of electronic commerce payment systems and security. There are manybenefits in using smart cards that will ultimately translate into savings for businesses and consumers.