A smart card is a card similar in size to today's plastic payment card that has a chip embedded in it. By adding a chip to the card, it becomes a smart card with the power to serve many different uses. As an access-control device, smart cards make personal and business data available only to the appropriate users. Another application provides users with the ability to make a purchase or exchange value.
Smart cards provide data portability, security and convenience.
Smart cards help businesses evolve and expand their products and services in a changing global marketplace. Banks, telecommunications, computer software and hardware companies, and airlines all have the opportunity to tailor their card products and services to better differentiate their offerings and brands. The combination of applications available on smart cards also may help them to develop closer relationships with their customers. Today, there are fewer than one billion smart cards in use. Market researcher Dataquest forecasts that by the year 2001, 3.4 billion smart cards will be used worldwide.