Archive

Reader technologies and types

When the time comes to update or expand your access control system, remember Idesco’s readers aren’t just compatible with most card technologies, but also with nearly all systems sold today.

When the time comes to update or expand your access control system, remember Idesco’s readers aren’t just compatible with most card technologies, but also with nearly all systems sold today. Our readers support for a variety of common interfaces lets them easily integrate into an even wider variety of systems. Learn more in Idesco’s reader datasheets, listing all their compatibilities and options. And don’t forget: whatever you choose, personal pin codes and keypad readers will easily strengthen your security.

Below, we provide a short overview of the technologies we support. Remember: whatever your need, our expert, fast customer support will happily help you through all phases of your system’s life span.

MIFARE DESFire

MIFARE DESFire sits in the top tier of the market’s most secure access control technologies. It is arguably the world’s most popular; in Nordic countries it is positioned to soon replace other technologies. This popularity is because its security combines with a powerful flexibility, letting you to update devices instead of replacing them for many years. For example, its backwards-compatibility with MIFARE Classic permits phased migration into new DESFire readers while keeping your system’s population of legacy transponders in use. Once readers are replaced, phase in new DESFire tags until your site’s migration is complete.

Like all its technologies, MIFARE’s DESFire is an open standard, to protect you from being vendor-locked. Idesco’s 8 CD 2.0 reader family are all DESFire readers, available in many housing options, data protocols, (e.g. OSDP v2 and RS-485.) If you don’t want to program your readers yourself, we can program them for you, including with customer-specific security keys, delivered direct to your customer’s site, to save you time and resources. We can even assume responsibility for storing or archiving end user-specific security keys for as long as you both specify.

MIFARE Classic

NXP launched their flagship ‘smartcard’ technology, MIFARE Classic, in the 1990s. Its greater data capacity and security quickly grew its popularity over older, low frequency technologies that also often suffered from being proprietary, in contrast with MIFARE’s open standard. Still widely supported in many types of applications and systems, MIFARE Classic UID tags and cards are supported by Idesco’s 7 C 2.0 readers, while MIFARE Classic sector keyed tags and cards can be read by our 8 CD 2.0 readers.

125 kHz

Idesco 7 AH readers support the so-called Prox technologies of 125kHz. A variety of technologies and different manufacturers are supported. To learn more about them check out our 7 AH reader specification datasheets. They are ideal for simpler applications that lack any substantial security requirement. Nevertheless, Idesco 7 AH readers are highly configurable, supporting a number of interfaces frequently found in Prox technology systems.

LEGIC

Like MIFARE DESFire, LEGIC is another top-tier access control technology relying on highly secure encryption methods. It is found widely across Central Europe in systems with high security requirements. Idesco offers a number of LEGIC Prime and LEGIC Advant options in its 8 CL 2.0 readers, that also support MIFARE DESFire many other transponder technologies.

Transparent

The so-called Transparent reader is a new class of solution, supporting both expanded system control and essentially insurmountable security. Transponder data is forwarded to the host system totally encrypted, omitting any kind of data processing by the reader. With control so utterly system-based, transparent readers aren’t just secure; they are also highly cost-effective over the long term. This is because system development can achieve unprecedented flexibility when updates encompass both software and physical device functionality – no subsequent device updates are needed. Idesco’s transparent reader, 9 CD 2.0 Slim Pin T, is ANSSI Level 1 Architecture specification-compliant. (ANSSI, Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information, is France’s governmental authority regulating data systems security.)