What does an Italian mouse puppet, which appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s and early 1970s, have in common with technology that reduces cross-contamination in medical environments? The mouse puppet is Topo Gigio, a character who used to end The Ed Sullivan Show by saying “Eddie, keesa me goo’night.” The technology is “Topo Jojo,” a touchless computer mouse made by Simi Valley-based Qualstar Corp. “Topo is Italian for mouse,” said William Gervais, president and CEO of Qualstar. “And if you’re older than 50 you remember The Ed Sullivan Show. “Topo Jojo” is a play on Topo Gigio.” Many people have an endearing connection to the latter, he added. Qualstar recently began marketing Topo Jojo, the first model of a planned series of products based on patent-pending touch-less pointing technology. It uses infrared sensor technology to detect a finger’s motion in the air to control a PC display cursor. Touch-less control eliminates operator contact with the traditional computer mouse, thus preventing a source of cross contamination in medical environments. No additional software is required. And the 7” X 6.5” X 2” stainless steel device runs on Windows XP, VISTA, 7. “Bacterial cross contamination is a serious health risk to everyone involved in even minor clinical procedures,” said Gervais. “Using Topo Jojo can reduce the risk to both practitioners and patients in today’s data-centric medical environments.” The publicly traded company, founded in 1984, plans to distribute the device in Italy and Germany. It will also market Topo Jojo to medical and dental providers in the U.S. through its Simi Valley headquarters. List price is $475. Branching out The technology may seem far afield from Qualstar’s core business of designing and manufacturing automated tape storage solutions and high efficiency power supplies. But Gervais said it’s right in line with the company’s strengths. “Topo Jojo is a good fit for our research and development skill set of using metal, plastic and processors,” he said. “And we already sell products into medical environments, such as tape libraries for medical storage.” The company is diversifying, he added. Touch-less mouse technology may also have applications for automatic bank teller machines, the auto repair industry, and more, said Gervais, adding Qualstar does not plan on just producing one product. Manufacturing is being done in Simi Valley, and the firm employs 65 people locally. Qualstar revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended Dec. 31, 2009, were $3.6 million, compared to $4.6 million for the same quarter of fiscal 2009, a decrease of $1.0 million or 22.2 percent. Loss from operations was $0.9 million compared to $0.8 in fiscal 2009. Net loss was $0.8 million or $(0.07) per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $0.6 million or $(0.05) per basic and diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Tape library segment revenues were $2.6 million for the quarter, compared to $3.1 million for the same quarter of the prior year, a 16.5 percent decrease. Power supply segment revenues of $1 million decreased by $0.5 million, or 34.3 percent, compared to $1.5 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Gross profit decreased to $1.2 million, or 33.2 percent of net revenues, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009, from $1.5 million, or 31.9 percent of net revenues, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2008. “Looking ahead to the second half of fiscal 2010, we expect that the actions we have taken over the past two years to strengthen our business model, including cost reductions and continuing with new product developments, will have a positive impact on our results as the broader economic conditions turn the corner,” said Gervais in the earnings report.
Touchless Computer Mouse Comes In Handy in Medical Environments
