Codercard Has a New Top Man, New Product

Codercard Inc., an Irvine-based company that makes security systems that keep “hackers” from breaking into computer systems, has named a new chairman and announced a sophisticated new product on the drawing boards designed to foil thieves who steal information from computers.

The company announced Monday that it named Robert W. Herman chairman at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month. He replaced Richard Reins, 58, who remains a board member. The company did not give a specific reason for the management change.

Herman, 62, will continue as president and treasurer. Herman in 1962 founded Palo Alto-based Decision Control Inc., one of the first mini-computer makers in the United States.

Herman was out of town and unavailable for comment Monday, but Joel Thomas, the company’s vice president of finance, said Codercard’s corporate direction will remain the same, although the company is now studying advanced security systems that can be built into computers instead of being added after purchase.

The growing number of hackers-those who gain access to computer programs to steal proprietary information-has lead to a proliferation of companies such as Codercard. Less than a decade ago, computer security companies were virtually unknown. But today there are close to a dozen. “Now you have thousands of people capable of . . . (secretly) plugging into company computers,” said Gene McClenning, the company’s vice president of sales.

Because of high start-up costs, Codercard has yet to show a profit. For its first full year of operation, the company reported a net loss of $530,000 for fiscal 1984. Total revenues were $146,000.

Although McClenning would not project a profit for 1985, he did say, “The kind of product we have will show a significant growth rate.” The company will report its first-quarter earnings for 1985 later this month.

Now employing 35 workers, Codercard employed just a handful when it was founded in July, 1983. Its complex security systems can cost many thousands of dollars. A company with 1,000 terminals could pay upwards of $200,000 for a Codercard security system, Thomas said.

Among Codercard’s major customers are Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., and Los Alamos National Laboratory.