RICHMOND, North Yorks., England--(Business Wire)--Peratech Limited is pleased to announce it successfully completed
the acquisition of the business of Eleksen from Deloittes (appointed
as Administrator of Eleksen plc and Eleksen Limited).
Eleksen had developed a wide and impressive range of textile
fabric sensors - used in the manufacture of 'smart clothing' and
consumer electronic products such as the Eleksen Bluetooth Fabric
Keyboard. Eleksen's proprietary and patent protected 'ElekTex(R)'
touch sensitive fabric materials had gained wide acclaim and their
systems for controlling consumer electronic devices such as the Apple
iPod(TM), mobile phones and PDA's had made them the 'industry
standard' in intelligent textile controls.
Peratech Limited, adds the portfolio of Eleksen and ElekTex to its
rapidly growing intellectual property base; Peratech acquired the
business of another intelligent textile pioneer - SOFTswitch(TM) -
during the middle of 2006. Peratech's QTC (Quantum Tunnelling
Composites) have received wide acclaim from organisations such as
NASA, Dept. Trade and Industry, Frost and Sullivan, Saatchi and
Saatchi, Time Magazine, BBC Tomorrow's World Technology Awards and
many other industry accolades.
QTC's are electro-active polymeric materials which enable the
action of 'touch' to be translated into an electrical reaction,
enabling a vast array of devices to incorporate very thin and highly
robust 'sensing' of touch and pressure. Already widely used in
robotics and defence, Peratech commercialised it's QTC technology at
the beginning of 2006 and is currently working with a number of key
technology clients who are implementing QTC sensing technology within
their own products.
Philip Taysom, joint CEO of Peratech commented "We are delighted
to have completed this acquisition - and are very pleased that we can
continue to develop products, services and technologies in this
rapidly expanding market space". Taysom continued "the sad demise of
Eleksen plc took everyone by surprise - and we have worked very hard
to ensure there is a smooth transition for customers who had planned
products based around Eleksen's ElekTex apparel control products for
the 2008 seasons - manufacturing is being brought back online and we
look forward to fulfilling customer requirements in the immediate
future."
Eleksen's ElekTex products for intelligent or 'smart' clothing had
previously been used by such major brands as O'Neill, ZegnaSport,
Marks & Spencer's, City Sports, Belkin and many others.
David Lussey, CTO and founder of Peratech commented "We're excited
about the addition of such a powerful technology and brand to our
portfolio. With ElekTex, Peratech becomes the leading technology
provider for the smart fabrics market."
Eleksen's award winning Fabric Bluetooth Keyboard product is also
now in production and will be further developed over the coming years
to add many new features and functions - a version 1.5 is now produced
and ready to be delivered within weeks.
Peratech have also today entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding with Keybo Technology Limited to license the Eleksen
Bluetooth Keyboard. Both parties aim to complete contracts before the
end of January 2008 and further details will be released shortly.
About Peratech
Peratech is the inventor and world leader in Quantum Tunnelling
Composite (QTC) technology a new breed of electro-active materials
with the ability to sense touch and other energy forms. QTC materials
give enormous flexibility in the design, shape, thickness and style of
a switch or pressure sensor and can be made in a range of elastomeric
forms, including emulsive coatings (down to thicknesses of 10
microns), 'bulk' silicone or rubber and textile forms. Peratech
pioneered the creation of electronic switches made from textiles as
early as 2001. QTC has been recognised through numerous International
awards and accolades including "Tomorrow's World Industry Award 2002",
"Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation Award 2000" and "European Electronics
Industry Award 2004".
QTC materials have been used by organisations such as NASA, ILC
Dover, Shadow Robotics and numerous government agencies World Wide.
Peratech also owns SOFTswitch the pioneering creator of textile
switching.
About Eleksen(TM)
Eleksen is the world leader in touch sensitive interactive
textiles for electronics interface design. The company's core
technology, ElekTex(R) , is a unique electro-conductive fabric touch
pad optimized for the creation of flexible, durable and rugged fabric
touch screen interfaces. ElekTex is used in applications ranging from
wearable electronic controls for consumer electronics and industrial
wear to lightweight, low-power touch interfaces for CE accessories,
telematics, military, transportation and space suits. It replaces the
hard touch pads and flexi-circuits which have limited the growth of
the wearable electronics markets. Eleksen licenses ElekTex and
reference design to manufacturers for use in custom electronics design
and also markets a range of ready-to-integrate solutions for garment,
bags and accessories manufacturers.
Peratech Limited
Sara Gott, +44 (0)8700 727272
enquiries@peratech.com
Fax: +44 (0)8700 727273
Copyright Business Wire 2008
