Iris back in the fray

GENERALLY, Datasonic Group Bhd is seen as the leader in the provision of electronic passports to the Government.

Last week, the company opened a factory that would roll out the latest version of passports that come with high security features. Datasonic has already produced 650,000 of the next-generation Malaysian passports since Nov 15.

The opening of the factory by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the Home Minister, further cements Datasonic’s position in the area of providing the high-security passports to the government.

If anybody had thought that Datasonic would dominate all future government contracts related to the passport, they are wrong.

On Dec 15, Iris Corp Bhd announced that it had secured a contract from the Home Affairs Ministry for the provision of maintenance services to the Immigration Department.

The contract, which is for a period of three years, is to maintain the systems, equipment and software for Facial Live Capture Image at all passport recipient and issuance offices.

The contract sum is small – at just below RM5mil. However, Iris’ re-entry into the provision of passport services to the government proves that the company is still in the business that it was known for in the past.

Previously, Iris was known as the company that provided chips imbedded in all Malaysian passports. It was a feature then that prevented forgery and fraud. Iris exported the technology to several third world countries.

However, its dominance in that segment of the business faded as others joined the fray. Apart from Datasonic, Prestariang Bhd also had a share of the contracts from the Immigration Department.

Iris now has new shareholders that include Datuk Rozabil Abdul Rahman, Datuk Paul Poh and Felda Investment Corp. They obviously are sweating its assets.