Magnetic Stripe

Description

Magnetic stripe is a proven, reliable reading technology, with on-site read/write capability and a relatively low cost, capable of storing large amounts of information.

What is a magnetic stripe?

Magnetic stripe technology uses electromagnetic charges to record or encode information onto a piece of tape. A magnetic head reads the charges and a computer translates them into alphanumeric sequences for identification.

The magnetic material making up the stripe comes in various coercivities (the magnetism needed to erase the information encoded on the stripe). Low-coercivity (lo-co) magstripes are typically used for bank and credit cards and can be erased by ordinary magnets if held close to the material. High-coercivity (hi-co) magstripes, commonly used for access control cards, cannot be erased by ordinary magnets, even in contact. We offer 400 Oe, 2750 Oe and 4000 Oe (Oe=Oersted).

A 12.5mm (half-inch) magstripe normally has three tracks available to record data. This allows one track to be used for the initial application, while the other two remain available for future uses.

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