Wellington
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The hand-held device integrates hardware and software and enables anyone from a utility to amining company to measure and model anything.
By taking a photo combined with laser measurement, and knowing exactly where the device islocated through GPS (global positioning system), all parts of the picture can be captured asdata.
Any part of the picture can be measured accurately, and that information added to the datastream.
What it means in practice is a tool and package that, for utilities that have assets such aspoles for power and broadband distribution which need verification of location and use, a costreduction of two thirds says ikeGPS chief executive Glenn Milnes.
“Compared to such companies using a measuring stick, we can improve employee productivity by70%,” he says.
The pole utility measuring and modelling market in the USA alone is estimated to be worth US$5-6billion alone. But considering industry segments such asenergy and mining who have external assetswhich they want and need to know where they’re located, how big they are and what conditionthey’re in; then you’re talking massive market potential.
And also a slight conundrum for Wellington-based ikeGPS.
“The biggest mistake a business can make is try to cover the whole market,” says Milnes, whohas a background in the European telecoms market, and in the Wellington venture capital industrybefore moving to the CEO role 18 months ago.
So, a strategic decision has been made to pursue the utility , defense and intelligence marketsin America, and a sales and marketing office is being ramped up in Colorado, with the back endtechnical R&D and manufacture to remain in Wellington.
The currently 25 person team will look to add another 15 staff, mostly in New Zealand, mostly inthe software interface area.
This also indicates a change in the company’s approach, founded in 2005 by current CTO LeonToorenburg.
“Even two years ago we were all about the hardware,” says Milnes.
“Today, in terms of our engineering resources 70% of what we do is software driven.”
And though ikeGPS has patents and trade secrets around the hardward, its increased software focusis to “provide an end-to-end industry solution,” he says.
Thus, ikeGPS makes its backend software, proliferated on a customer’s IT platform easy to useand install.
To take advantage of the massive interpretation and measurement ability of this system though –well, the customer needs the hardware. And obviously, while there’s competition, ikeGPS seesitself being a few steps ahead at the moment.
“There’s a few layers to our competitive advantage,” Milnes says. “With the software andalgorithms needing to network together, and the calibration required; it’s really not thatstraightforward. It really isn’t just about the hardware.”
The elegance, security and ease of use of the end-to-end solution provided by ikeGPS is also oneof the reasons the company has been able to sign a recent development contract with In-Q-Tel, a UScompany which carries out a lot of strategic development for American intelligence agencies.
ikeGPS is the first Australasian company to be accredited by In-Q-Tel, and will bring remotemeasurement for asset security assessments.
“They have the capacity to bring a lot of really big customers to us,” he says.
Which again brings the NZ company back to the ‘dilemma’ of what markets to attack first.
Milnes is confident that the private and venture capital backed company can scale up sales anddistribution (and NZ manufacture of the hardware).
A decision will probably be required in the next few years around further partnering withothers.
“At the end of the day, we’re a platform,” says Milnes. “Do we let others build on it isa strategic question, along with how we’d manage that?”
In the meantime, ikeGPS soon shifts its sales and marketing focus to the US, and will concentrateon the niche vertical market of companies who have poles (and lots of stuff hanging off them).
“We’re looking to become dominant, experts in that; at the moment,” he says.
The company has doubling yearly growth, and Milnes envisages that will continue – at the veryleast.
The company’s keen to raise its profile and continue to attract clever engineering minds as itcontinues to develop its products and solutions.
Managing such growth will be a challenge – the past 12 months has seen a lot of change, andpreparing for the next phase is equally so.
But, as challenges go, managing growth isn’t a bad quandary to have!
P.S.
In case you’re wondering what ikeGPS stands for; it’s ‘I know everything’.