SKIDATA: Annual Press Breakfast 2007

Held under the motto "30 Years of SKIDATA


Urs Grimm, Charles Egli, Robert Weiskopf (left to right)

SKIDATA's annual Press Breakfast was held today at the head office in Gartenau under the motto "30 Years of SKIDATA".

A group of around 20 journalists from local media and trade magazines was complemented for the first time by four representatives of the banking community.

Charles Egli (SKIDATA CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board) took turns with Executive Board Members Robert Weiskopf (head of the Car Access unit) and Urs Grimm (head of the People Access unit) to present the latest developments, highlights and future outlook for SKIDATA and its business units.

In his introduction, Charles Egli gave an overview of last year's developments, results and future strategies at the Kudelski Group. Focussing on SKIDATA (a member of Kudelski's Public Access unit), he went on to present last year's results and general organisational developments. He was particularly pleased to be able to announce SKIDATA's best financial results in the firm's history  a perfect high note to his report, and a particularly fitting success story for SKIDATA's anniversary year.
His outlook on future plans and strategies included a selection of customer projects, technical developments, among them the focus on new and emerging technologies such as Near-Field Communication (NFC), further expansion into developing markets such as India, and plans to make the service aspect of access control a key feature of future solutions.

Robert Weiskopf and Urs Grimm reported on last year's events at the Car Access and People Access units, outlining the extraordinary success of product 'shooting stars' Freemotion and Coder Unlimited, explaining market trends, and listing some of last year's project highlights. Ranging from Germany's largest ski resort Allgäu to retail development giant Westfield to Hong Kong International Airport and Ski Dubai, SKIDATA's growing project portfolio reflects its continued advance in both established and developing markets worldwide.

Future plans in both units call for continued technological innovation. The goal, according to Weiskopf and Grimm, is to provide ever more versatile and open solutions with extensive, primarily web-based, interfacing capabilities. With the establishment of web-based service infrastructures, operators will soon have the opportunity to outsource maintenance of their systems to SKIDATA, allowing them focus on their core business to cope with intensifying market conditions and rising consumer demands.