Gu Gido, CEO of Aha Information & Communication, is holding a company briefing with reporters at the headquarters located in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 25th. Photo by Aha Information & Communication
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] “The SmartPass device, which accurately measures body temperature in 0.5 seconds, has such explosive demand that we expect to sell around 200,000 units without difficulty. Our daily production capacity is 1,000 units, so we may need to expand the production line.”
Aha Information & Communication, a strong small and medium-sized enterprise specializing in digital educational devices such as electronic whiteboards and electronic podiums, is expanding its influence in the global market by recently developing and exporting a non-face-to-face facial recognition body temperature measurement device. On the 25th, Koo Gido, CEO of Aha Information & Communication, announced that this year’s sales target has been raised from the initially expected 45 billion KRW to 200 billion KRW.
Located in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Aha Information & Communication is a small and medium-sized enterprise with sales of 34.2 billion KRW and 100 employees as of the end of last year. Since its establishment in 1995, it has been the number one company in the domestic market with a 40% market share, specializing in the production of digital educational devices such as electronic whiteboards and electronic podiums. It was the first in Korea to develop an electronic whiteboard that displays various content on the screen with added handwriting functions, and succeeded in domestic production of an electromagnetic induction type touch sensor for the first time (third in the world). Currently, it exports electronic whiteboard products to 64 countries worldwide. In 2015, it developed the world’s first 75-inch based P-cap (projected capacitive) touch sensor, and this year, by developing electronic whiteboards and podiums integrated with AI and IoT functions, it is transforming into a ‘smart digital educational device manufacturer’ aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Especially since January this year, with the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the company developed the SmartPass, a non-face-to-face facial recognition fever check system, and is actively supplying it mainly to government offices and public transportation. In a meeting with reporters, CEO Koo said, “We started planning in January when COVID-19 broke out, began full-scale development in February, and launched the product in May. The reason we could develop SmartPass in just three months is thanks to the software technology accumulated by the company over time.” Aha Information & Communication has been steadily investing in research and development (R&D) by operating a ‘Technology Research Institute’ for technology research on electronic whiteboards and podiums.
SmartPass is a device that measures body temperature and detects mask-wearing status simply by the user looking at the camera for 0.5 seconds without touching the device with their hand or face. If the user’s body temperature is 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher, an entry prohibition alarm sounds, and if the user is not wearing a mask, a message saying “Please wear a mask” appears. While conventional industrial thermal cameras have been criticized for being vulnerable to environmental variables and inaccurate temperature measurement, SmartPass offers accuracy down to decimal points of temperature. Recently, it has been installed not only in government offices such as Jungnang-gu Office in Seoul, Dobong-gu, and Gwangjin-gu but also in movie theaters like CGV.
CEO Koo said, “Currently, SmartPass accounts for 80% of total sales, and overseas orders have already reached second and third rounds, showing a hot response. We plan to establish a new business division related to access control technology within the company to respond to the post-COVID era in the mid to long term.”
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