Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and their individual components, namely, RFID credentials, readers and writers for communicating with the RFID credentials, and programmers for programming the RFID credentials, wherein the RFID credentials are in the form of cards, tags or key fobs; magnetic stripe systems and their individual components, namely, magnetic stripe cards and readers for communicating with the magnetic stripe cards; magnetic alloy wire systems and their individual components, namely, magnetic alloy wire cards and readers for communicating with the magnetic alloy wire cards, wherein the magnetic alloy wire credentials are in the form of cards, tags or key fobs; RFID reader and writer modules for original equipment manufacturers (OEM's); contact smart chips; multiple technology-based credentials and readers and writers, which combine one or more RFID technologies with magnetic stripe technology, magnetic alloy wire technology, contact smart chip technology, key pad technology, bar code technology, biometric technology, anti-counterfeiting technology, and photo identification technology; hardware, software and firmware for networking and interfacing RFID readers and writers and host computers used in the fields of security and access control; and software for issuing and managing RFID credentials in the form of cards, tags or key fobs