Xanadu Plc says its subsidiary Smart Card company E-pass International Ltd will be able to speed up the manufacturing of its e-pass wallet personal computer following the signing of an agreement with Malaysian-based TL Technology Research and Iris Technologies. Xanadu is so confident the product is going to be hugely successful that it has already started making plans to open offices across the world, starting with the US, then France and Germany followed by the Pacific Rim. The agreement will see TL and its parent company Iris designing, developing and manufacturing a prototype, expected to be ready by September, in the Multimedia Super Corridor, apparently an area that Malaysia believes will match up to California’s Silicon Valley in the future. Xanadu, a two-year-old London holding company employing some 25 people, purchased the patent relating to the e-pass wallet personal computer technology from German scientist and inventor and now E-pass managing director, Hartmut Hennige some four months ago. E-pass is a credit card-sized computer, designed to fit into a wallet, that combines numerous functions such as cashless payment, credit card transactions, membership card details, access and passport control and health and personal data. All the data can be accessed via buttons and a display screen. Xanadu chairman Ron Holland says the company holds the international rights to the technology which will enable smart card users to receive and access information from the cards without having to operate a reader. Holland expects trials to begin on the product shortly after prototype development is complete. Xanadu has four subsidiary companies and was established specifically to act as a technology holding company.
