Magnetic stripe technology is also susceptible to misreads, card wear, and data corruption.

These cards are also susceptible to some forms of skimming where external devices are placed over the reader to intercept the data read.

[citation needed] PKCS#11 is an API designed to be platform-independent, defining a generic interface to cryptographic tokens such as smart cards.

Most access control systems only read serial numbers of contactless smart cards and do not utilize the available memory.

In such case a biometric reader first reads the template on the card and then compares it to the finger (hand, eye, etc.)

To counteract this problem some manufacturers have created formats beyond 26-bit Wiegand that they control and issue to organizations.

This technology once gained popularity because it is difficult to duplicate, creating a high perception of security.

Proximity technology retains the Wiegand upstream data so that the new readers are compatible with old systems.

The earliest punched card readers used pins that would dip into tiny cups of mercury when passing through a punched hole, completing an electrical circuit; in the late 1920s, IBM developed card readers that used metal brushes to make electrical contact with a roller wherever a hole passed between them.

[4] A business card reader is a portable image scanner device or mobile app that uses optical character recognition to detect specific data fields on a business card and store that data in a contact database or 'electronic rolodex'.

[citation needed] A card reader with a biometric system compares the template stored in memory to the scan obtained during the process of identification.

The control panel then checks the permission level of the user and determines whether access should be allowed.

The communication between the reader and the control panel is usually transmitted using the industry standard Wiegand interface.

The only exception is the intelligent biometric reader, which does not require any panels and directly controls all door hardware.

User templates may also be stored in the memory of the smart card, thereby removing all limits to the number of system users (finger-only identification is not possible with this technology), or a central server PC can act as the template host.

For systems where a central server is employed, known as "server-based verification", readers first read the biometric data of the user and then forward it to the main computer for processing.

Server-based systems support a large number of users but are dependent on the reliability of the central server, as well as communication lines.