Kathy wrote:
>Ahhhaaaa
>
>Hi David, a subject close to my heart :o)
>
>Ok I have done alot of work in the security industry (I have not yet had a
>client use smart cards)
>
>I have researched smart cards, and found in manufacturers literature a lot
>of warnings about ESD and card handling ie storage in purses and wallets,
>and MTBF, I was not happy with the findings (I am still surprised that we
>use them for money). The current trend in contact security devices is the
>Dallas Ibuttons (available in Australia from Dallas security products IIRC.
>This company are the only people able to sell I button stuff, but be warned
>they are pricks, they told me that the demo kits were no longer available
>and that they would have to consult their boss who was on holiday before
>giving me a few samples, even though if I had a customer letter of intent to
>buy 2 million "code devices" over a 10 year period.

The sample card I have is an i2c device. Farnell call them a Smart Card but
they're simply an 256 byte EEPROM in a card format AFAICT. I don't have
the datasheet for it yet. It's made by Comtech from what Farnell says.
I downloaded some ISO7816 data last night but that seems to be for the
"real" Smart Cards. The Farnell cards are about AU$6 and the contact frame
about AU$15. This is the price range I'm looking for. The system only has
6 rooms that need simple access control.
Regards...

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