What's TradeCard, the former Bermuda-based company, doing these days? The company figured out late in the game that the Internet, and not a privately developed network, was the way to go in developing its business of replacing letters of credit with a cheaper electronic method.

Now the company has declared itself ready to take on the world. The company recently received an endorsement of sorts from Forrester consultancy.

"Forrester believes that TradeCard's electronic system makes sense,'' the report on TradeCard said, stating the obvious. "As global online trade catapults to $6.8 trillion in 2004, international traders will grow increasingly frustrated with slow-moving offline financial processes.'' Forrester researchers reported that Kurt Cavano, chairman and CEO of TradeCard, said the `young company' targets cross-border finished-goods transactions that range from $10,000 to $100,000. TradeCard's platform will generate credit lines handled through Coface, a French-based credit insurer.

Once all contract conditions are met, Coface guarantees payment to sellers.

The platform automates trade compliance procedures. The system compares shipping information with purchase order data and once the contract terms are met, the Thomas Cook Group will automatically clear the transaction.

Mr. Cavano claims that the system cuts transaction costs, speeds up the process and helps eliminate errors. A letter of credit can cost a company about $1,000 in bank administration and compliance discrepancy fees compared to TradeCard's fee of about $150 for most transactions. Through TradeCard's Internet site, traders will also be able to track the progress of their shipments to see if there are any holdups in the process.

The loss of TradeCard was a big blow to Bermuda's attempts to set up the Island as an offshore electronic trading hub. TradeCard was founded in 1994 in Bermuda by the World Trade Association and is a business-to-business e-commerce transaction processing company focused specifically on cross-border trade.

The company spent millions developing an automated private system for the entire process, including trade finance, pre-export finance, inspection services, and online insurance. The company spent millions developing an automated private system for the entire process, including trade finance, pre-export finance, inspection services, and on-line insurance, reducing costs from several thousands per transaction to just $150 a trade.

But 1994 was when the Internet was beginning to launch itself into the public consciousness. Many traders were perhaps reluctant to make the initial expense of investing in the software necessary to run on the private system. Why do that when the Internet was already basically free and getting more secure? After the lack of interest TradeCard needed an infusion of money, hence the need for venture capitalists and the need to refocus the company, which had a good idea but placed its bets, in hindsight, on the wrong tools.

The investors who stepped in decided they wanted the company moved to the US.

Now TradeCard's Internet site (www.tradecard.com) says: "The TradeCard network provides a business-to-business e-commerce infrastructure that enables buyers and sellers to conduct and settle international trade transactions securely over the Internet.'' The move to the US underlined the fact that Bermuda cannot rely only on its low tax environment alone to attract high-tech companies.

Department of Useless Information: I've just looked into my keyboard and I am shocked with the amount of debris lodged underneath the keys - and I've only been using it for four months! This is the stuff that doesn't fall out when I occasionally turn the keyboard over to give it a good shake out.

A research study conducted by AOL UK revealed the shocking secrets about the grime accumulating in many offices. AOL UK found that computer keyboards on average accumulate up to two grammes of dirt a month. The dirt collects because users eat breakfast, snacks, and lunch and do personal grooming over their computer terminals. AOL collected the grime from the keys of a keyboard in a typical London office for a month and found various particles resembling cereal grains, biscuit crumbs, bread crumbs, pastry flakes and chocolate crumbs made up 56 percent of the 1.89 grammes collected. Another 15 percent was boiled sweets, 7 percent was noodles, 4 percent was vegetable pieces, one percent was leaf matter, and one percent was pencil shavings. The researchers found finger nail parings, tape, plastic, insects, foil, hair made up less than one percent each of the remaining material. Sounds like a typical office diet to me.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at e-mail ahmed elamin.com or (33) 467901474.