KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd has set its sights on providing more autogate lanes at various checkpoints in the country.
Managing director Datuk Ab Hamid Mohamad Hanipah said the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Datasonic Group Bhd, had been providing autogate solutions nationwide since 2017.
"Today, we take pride that we are managing more than 150 autogates across all checkpoints in Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak,” he told Bernama in an interview today.
He said its solutions were deployed at various checkpoints, including Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) 1 and 2, Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and Desaru, Johor, as well as Batam, Indonesia.
Ab Hamid said Datasonic had continuously improved the autogate features, including the introduction of new technologies such as facial recognition and bidirectional gates.
"The bidirectional gates were deployed at Desaru,” he added.
Apart from that, he said Datasonic was also instrumental in customising the back-end system for the autogate as part of Malaysia’s initiative to open up the autogate facility to an additional 36 countries starting June 1 this year, expanding the total to 63 countries including all European Union countries, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, China, Canada, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
"Our team worked round the clock to ensure the implementation was smooth sailing. Looking ahead, with positive feedback from our client, we will continue to provide our unwavering support as our country looks to add new autogate lanes at various checkpoints from this year onwards,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the high demand for passports following the reopening of the economy post pandemic, Ab Hamid said it was facing more challenges due to the supply chain situation along with the shortage of chips.
Despite that, he said that the company’s utmost priority was providing exceptional quality with timely delivery, and it had always planned ahead of time to ensure the continuous and smooth delivery of passports.
"According to data from the Immigration Department, passport issuance hit 3.05 million in 2023. We are very proud to play a pivotal role in catering to the strong spike in passport demand with uninterrupted delivery to the public,” Ab Hamid said.
He said the company’s extensive involvement began in 1997 with the development and implementation of the visa, pass, and permit system.
Last year saw a landmark achievement in the passport project when Datasonic produced the first Malaysian passport that was 100 per cent made in Malaysia, as the company had successfully transitioned to the in-house manufacture of polycarbonate data pages, he added. - Bernama