In my former life as a technology reporter, I wrote about Mississauga, Ont.-based Kasten Chase Applied Research Ltd. from time to time. It was a small tech company with an interesting product portfolio: It made communications and data storage gear — the software and hardware — that was so impenetrable to hackers and other threats that it was used by the Office of the President of the United States and other U.S. agencies that needed to absolutely know that no one would be eavesdropping on any fax transmissions, Internet traffic, or other electronic data exchange.
To be able to sell its gear to the highest-security clients in the U.S., Kasten Chase was subject to a rigorous audit and security check by the National Security Agency. That audit included NSA spies actually trying to break in to Kasten Chase's headquarters just south of Pearson Airport to try to steal some of its intellectual property.
It passed that test.
Sadly, for all that neat stuff, the company has been unable to make a go of it financially. For the quarter ending March 31, it reported just $100,000 of revenue and a net loss 10 times that amount — or $1.1-million.
Yesterday, it announced that it would seek bankruptcy protection after failing to find a buyer for its business or otherwise turn things around.