By Sharen Kaur

Published in the New Straits Times on 19th September 2009

You can download this article here (PDF) or view in JPG

RADIO frequency identification (RFID) technology specialist Multimedia Display Technologies Sdn Bhd (MDT) is aiming for more than RM100 million in revenue by 2012, driven by its new green technology product, PaperCard.

PaperCard is made of hardened paper layers without adding any plastic additives or laminating plastic foils.

It looks like an ATM card and is embedded with microchip tags and scanners to identify, authenticate, monitor and manage objects using RFID.

RFID rides on radio waves to automatically identify an object via a serial number or a microchip attached to an antenna.

MDT chairman and chief executive officer Liew Choon Lian said PaperCard does not generate any electrostatics and allows various optical personalisation methods.

The potential applications for PaperCard includes credit cards, loyalty cards, gift cards, transportation cards, SIM cards, identification cards and driving licence, ATMs and hotel room keys, he said.

Liew said MDT's biggest customer for PaperCard is a local hotel group, which is buying 2,000 pieces to replace its room keys for RM100,000.

China Mobile Communications Corp is also buying 200 pieces for RM11,000, he told Business Times.

"We are talking to DiGI.Com Bhd and Celcom Bhd to buy 200 million pieces each. We are selling each card at US$15 (RM52)," Liew said.

PaperCard is environmentally friendly, cheap and easy to produce, and comparable in strength to plastic cards.

It is the world's first durable (heat, water and oil resistance) and ISO standard compliant card made by recycled and biodegradable paper.

MDT is also finalising deals to supply the cards to the Philippines and Indonesia.

Liew said he expects MDT's revenue to jump by triple-digit this year from RM5 million in 2008.

PaperCard, which is safe and emits no poisonous gases such as dioxins when incinerated, is manufactured by Japan's Toppan Printing Co Ltd, the world's largest printing company.

MDT has exclusive marketing rights to sell it in Malaysia, and non-exclusive rights worldwide.

The original article was published in the New Straits Times on 19th September 2009 and is available online at

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/18mdt/Article/index_html