IPESI ELETRÔNICA & INFORMÁTICA magazine
Year XII – Sep/Oct 2003

FOURTH: KEYBOARD FOR EXPORT

Fourth Technology created the Smart Pin keyboard for business and bank automation and, according to Antonio Júlio da Costa Farias, Commercial Director, the product will be available in the market 90 days as of the launching event.

The solution, which is indicated for means of payment, enables the typing of a personal password and can work with EMV specification cards and is based on the DES, DES and RSA cryptography systems.

It has 28 keys, of which 20 for the main keyboard and 8 function keys. Its graphic display has a 18 x 64 pixel resolution, with direct lighting. The smart card reader is compatible with ISO 7816 1, 2, 3 and 4 specifications; EMV level 1, T=0, T=1 and PC/SC. It supports microprocessed cards, memory cards and ATMEL (AT 88SC0204C)

According to Fourth director, the Smart Pin will be exported to Latin American countries and other international markets. At the moment, Fourth exports products to Argentina and metallic keyboards to Portugal. “We are still learning when it comes to exports, but we will be increasing them, if nothing but for a matter of survival. The internal market is very restricted,” he comments. “We want exports to account for 10-15% of our revenue in 2005,” he concludes.

Diário do Grande ABC Newspaper – August 21, 2001
Computer Section

TECHNOLOGICAL UPDATE KEEPS COMPUTER
MARKET ON THE RISE
Leone Farias
Diário do Grande ABC

The requirements of technological update, so that companies can prevent losses, reduce costs and increase productivity, for example, should help keep the computer equipment and supplies market on the rise. This is the opinion of industry companies located in the Greater ABC area, the majority of which is optimistic regarding the results for the year, despite the economic swings. Ten of them will be exhibiting at Comdex, the main event in the Brazilian IT sector, which will be opened up to Friday (from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.) at the Anhembi Exhibition Pavilion, in São Paulo.

According to Guazelli, the event promoter, this market accounts for a movement of US$ 20 billion per year in the country, and the deals closed as a result of the exhibition should represent 10% of this volume. Comdex 2002 gets together 450 exhibitors and the promoters expect to receive more than 100,000 visitors (professionals of the area), an increase against the 94,000 visitors received last year. This exceeds not only our expectations but also those of the exhibitors, said Antonio Bianco, director of Guazelli. Anamaco, based on the city of São Caetano, which distributes equipment and components for industrial automation and offers solutions for network analysis and administration, is a strong presence in the exhibition. To the company, the event means an opportunity to approach new business customers. The goal of the company, which in 2001 had a turnover of R$ 6 million, is to grow 10% to 15% this year. “Last year, we grew 20%. This is a more complicated year, but before us lies a strategic market in which companies cannot afford not to invest, he said.

This is not a typical year, but Fourth Technology, a manufacturer of computer keyboards in based in the city of São Bernardo, also expects to increase its sales, in this case by 5%. What helps growth is bank automation, due to the banks’ quest for a better customer service”, said commercial director Antonio Júlio da Costa Farias. At Comdex, the company will be showing new keyboards, the result of a development investment of R$ 150,000. One of the new products is a Braille model for the visually impaired.

Diário do Grande ABC Newspaper
Computer Section – August 21, 2000

THE AREA IS REPRESENTED AT COMDEX BY
SEVEN COMPANIES
Carolina Rodriguez
From the Editor

Seven companies in the Area will be participating in Comdex, a computer and information technology exhibition, which will be held from tomorrow to August 25 at the Anhembi Exhibition Pavilion, with the purpose of strengthening their name in the market and leveraging new deals. According to Comdex director Eduardo Guazelli, it is expected that about 120,000 people will be visiting the event throughout the four days, resulting in a movement of around R$ 1 billion in the next six months.

To Wilson Lazzarine, director of the Society of Users of Information Technology and Telecommunications (local acronym Sucesu), one of the promoters of the event, the industry is resuming growth and the companies are once again investing. “Last year, the industry had a turnover of R$ 9.8 billion and this year it is expected to reach R$ 12 billion.” Fourth Technology Informática, from São Bernardo, prepared two new products for this year’s issue of Comdex – a keyboard with a digital identifier for banks and a barcode reader, which can be used by Internet users to pay their bills from home. The goal is to increase the number of customers by up to 25%, according to commercial director Antonio Júlio da Costa Farias.

Diário do Grande ABC Newspaper
Computer Section – September 1, 1998

FOURTH PRODUCES KEYBOARDS TO BANKS
Company from São Bernardo has been operating in this industry for
2 years and has 25 employees.
Anderson Amaral - From the Editor

Peripherals such as mice and keyboards represent a very tiny share – about 5% - of the final cost of a PC or industrial automation system. This is why it makes no sense trying to save with cheap products that can disrupt the operation of a system and cause damages to the company.

Aiming at offering quality and affordable products, Fourth Technology, based in São Bernardo, manufactures keyboards for PCs and bank and business automation systems. Created two years ago, the company is one of the exhibitors at Comdex 98 (see more information about the event on page 4), and expects to close good deals. Built in an area of 600 m2, Fourth has 25 employees. The company manufactures around 20 keyboards, which were turned into up to 150 different products, according to the layout required by the project. Most of them are produced on demand, but roughly 3,000 units per month are designed to the PC industry. Within this market niche, says the company’s commercial director, Antonio Júlio da Costa, the largest competitors are imported products. “Quite a large part of them are in the country as a result of illegal imports and show very poor quality,” says Farias.

Fourth largest customers, however, come from the corporate market. Among them are O Boticário, Olivetti and HP. The company was recently a winning bidder in a tender to manufacture 20,000 keyboards for Banco do Brasil. About 60% have already been delivered. “The market is facing a very serious crisis, but there will always be space for quality,” said Farias.

Thanks to a financing of US$ 80,000, extended by BNDES (local acronym for the National Economic and Social Development Ban