The potential is unlimited. This is not surprising, considering the advantages of bar codes. The technology allows for highly accurate data entry, and it is relatively inexpensive and widely used. Although there are more than 250 bar code symbologies, a handful are used most frequently. These include Code 39, UPC, Code 128 and Interleaved 2 of 5 bar codes.
Many industries adopt symbologies to serve as the standard code for that industry.
New linear bar codes continue to hit the marketplace to serve niches. For example, Code ATM was developed by Control Module in 1995 as a proprietary code used to print incremental numbers on American Express Travelers Checks in infrared ink. The New Generation linear symbology was created to encode double-byte characters found in languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. And Intermec Technologies developed Code 53 last year for direct marking, molding and other low-performance printing techniques. Since 1988 when Intermec Technologies introduced Code 49, dozens of 2-D codes have been developed.