Why use ID's-Plus?

Card Options

 
 

Magnetic Stripes

 
 

Magnetic Stripes are a cost effective and more secure means for storing large quantities of data effectively on an ID Card. Magnetic

Magnetic Stripes can be used to store names and sensitive information such as access codes or account numbers.

LoCo and HiCo

Currently, we offer 2 types of Magnetic Stripes:

  • Low-Coercivity (LoCo)
  • High-Coercivity (HiCo)

Low-Coercivity magnetic stripes have been around a long time, and are brown in color.


High-Coercivity magnetic stripes are relatively new, and are darker (almost black) than LoCo stripes. HiCo cards are encoded using a stronger current and will hold their charge longer than a LoCo stripe under normal conditions.


Data Tracks

When you first look at the common magnetic stripe we are all familiar with, it appears that there is only one stripe, when actually that one stripe is usually divided into sections. These sections can be encoded in different formats. 

The three most common formats are:

  • IATA
  • ABA
  • TTS

IATA This format will encode up to 76 characters of data on a stripe. It can encode 64 different characters including all alpha/numeric (Caps only), and most other common characters.
ABA This format will encode up to 37 characters of data on a stripe. It will encode ONLY numbers and six special characters:

  • : (colon)
  • ; (semi-colon)
  • < (less than)
  • = (equals)
  • > (greater than)
  • ? (question mark)

TTS This format is rarely used and allows the same character set as ABA. TTS will encode up to 104 characters on a stripe.

    

In this picture the stripe is treated with a magnetic developer which clearly shows the encoded data.