Yubico

YubiKey Description
Technical Data
Comparison
YubiKey Security

Features	Yubikey	OTP-tokens (RSA SecurID, etc)	Smart Card
Power & Longevity	Powered by the USB port, no battery needed, lasts 10 years or more	Replace with a new token every 2 - 3 years when the battery dries up	Same as Yubikey
Shipping	Ship to the end customer via a regular mail	Ship with a special bulky package that is 5 ~ 10 times more expensive than shipping a Yubikey. That is significant for the consumer market.	A smart card reader is usualy required. The shipping a bulky package is 5 ~ 10 times more expensive than shipping a Yubikey. That is significant for the consumer market.
Platform Dependency	Platform independent, it works on any OS, browser or computer with a USB port. No driver or client software is needed.	Same as Yubikey	The driver depends on the OS and Windows upgrades, often a new driver required. Browser plug-in or ActiveX is needed to communicate with the smart card, making it OS and browser dependent.
Cost	Cost effective due to the minimal materials required.	Expensive due the materials of display, battery and a bulky packaging.	Expensive with reader, driver and card combined.
Integration	Easy and open-source client-side SDK available. In our experience it usually takes from 2 hours to a day for integration with your front & back end. Yubikey offers free, immediate online validation service to facilitate your integration. Purchase and installing the validation server up front is not neccessary.	The effort is similar to a Yubikey. But expensive to buy the RSA validation server.	Every card or reader has subtle differences in commands they provide.
Validation Service	Yubico offers subscription-based OTP validation service, or you can run it on your own server.	Expensive to license the validation server, and running your own 24x7 SecurID validation service needed.	Depends, you can run your own 24x7 validation service or outsource to 3rd-party providers such as VeriSign.
Ease to Carry	Compact and flexible. Fits in your wallet just like any another credit card or string it on your key chain.	Bulky to carry, doesn't fit into a wallet, thus easy to lose.	The USB smart card form factor is bulky to carry, doesn't fit into a wallet. Or otherwise you may need to carry a reader with you.
Support & Training	Minimal to none.	Minimal to none.	Heavy training and support are needed because of its heavy platform dependency, hard for end users to diagnose problems.
Environmental impact	Best, needs no batteries and 10 years or more life span.	Worst! Mercury in the batteries gets discarded every few years when the battery dries up.	OK, but the reader consumes a lot more materials to manufacture.
Multi-use	Public services are open to Yubikeys and are available at MashedLife.com. IN the future you can use one Yubikey to securely access a lot more services. That makes the token more useful and valuable and gives users a reason to carry it with them every day.	One token per single purpose and useless elsewhere. You end up carrying many tokens to access many different services.	One token per single purpose and useless elsewhere. You end up carrying many tokens to access many different services.
Versatility	Yubikey identifies itself to the PC as a keyboard device, So it is more versatile, things you do on your keyboard can be programmed on the Yubikey to facilitate automation such as auto-navigation that launches the user browser and navigates to a designated web site.	None.	Minimal.
Security	Yubikey generates a longer one-time password with just one touch, long passwords mean they are harder to crack. And that goes automatically to your PC like from a keyboard so no matter how long it is, users don't feel the burden.	RSA SecurID requires users to enter the OTP manually from the keyboard, slow and error-prone especially if the OTP becomes longer. Also it is vulnerable to shoulder peeping.	Smart card chips still have the strongest security.
Marketing Values	Auto-navigation brings traffic to your designated site. Yubikey casing can be used to print company logos. More services available soon will make Yubikey useful fin your daily life.	None.	None.