Here is another article from the Blationews email list.
New Zealand Herald
Monday, September 10, 2007
HumanWare opening world for the blind
By Peter Griffin
Richard Mander is steering an ambitious expansion of
HumanWare's product line-up.
Whatever way you look at it, the past two years have been a
period of seismic change for Christchurch hi-tech darling
HumanWare.
It was two years ago that the company's founder, Dr Russell
Smith, a pioneer in technology to assist the blind, and his wife,
Marian, boarded their Cessna 182 to fly home after a technology
conference held by venture capitalist Jenny Morel.
Their plane crashed off the north Canterbury coast, killing the
couple and leaving a company without the person who had steered
its technology development since 1973.
Based a short drive out of central Christchurch, HumanWare is
known worldwide for the BrailleNote, a mini-computer that allows
blind people to access most of the tools a laptop user with 20-20
vision enjoys -- word processing, email and web-surfing included.
The BrailleNote has been largely responsible for HumanWare
claiming a 60 per cent share of the global market for assistive
devices for the blind.
Blind children all around the world -- the lucky ones, anyway
-- pick up a BrailleNote when they're between 10 and 12 years
old. Many will stick with it for the rest of their lives, giving
HumanWare a hugely loyal customer base and recurring revenue for
years to come.
But HumanWare is also playing in the much bigger and more
competitive market for devices aimed at those with learning
disabilities and the visually impaired -- everything from digital
magnifiers to talking-book players.
In HumanWare's small manufacturing plant in Christchurch,
technicians assemble devices bound for Europe, Asia and the
United States, on a just-in-time production line that's been
radically overhauled since chief executive Richard Mander took
the reins last March.
As the second anniversary of the plane crash passes, there's a
sense that the company is finally able to move on.
A montage of photos in HumanWare's reception area shows Smith
throughout the history of the company, originally called
PulseData.
One black-and-white shot shows him demonstrating his Binaural
Sensory Aid, a sonar system built into a pair of glasses to help
the blind navigate using sound.
"We put that display up in reception the day of the shareholder
meeting. Russell died two years ago. It had a huge impact.
Some of the staff had worked with him for 20 years," says Mander.
That shareholder meeting in May was held to seek approval for a
major restructure of HumanWare's ownership. The result is that
dozens of shareholders have been bought out by Australian
investment firm Jolimont Capital and HumanWare's senior managers.
"A lot of the shareholders had been with us for a long time and
put their money in a long time ago," says Mander.
"They wanted dividend payments; we wanted to reinvest in the
company."
The investment is necessary to fund an ambitious expansion of
HumanWare's product line-up.
The Business had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to set eyes
on the more significant upcoming additions, but it's safe to say
that one product in particular is set to capture global attention
when it debuts in the run-up to Christmas.
In general terms, HumanWare's game plan for future growth
involves adapting existing popular consumer electronics and
business devices so the blind and sight-impaired can use them
too.
That means a more intensive focus on software development for
HumanWare, which had revenue of $58 million in the year to June
last year.
A partnership it struck with Research in Motion, the company
behind the wildly successful BlackBerry handheld computer, is a
breakthrough deal for Mander's team and points the way forward.
Early next year, HumanWare software which talks blind people
through the BlackBerry's menus will be available for the
phone-cum-email device.
"In the longer term it's about getting revenue out of
software," says Mander, whose vision for HumanWare is that it
becomes the company automatically associated with adapting
popular products so they can be used by the blind or visually
impaired.
"If we can have HumanWare inside the box, we'd be happy," he
adds.
Mander spent seven years working at computer-maker Apple -- he
met his wife, Amanda, there when the two started at the company
as interns on the same day.
The pair learned a great deal about so-called user-orientated
design at Apple, much of which has rubbed off on HumanWare.
Amanda Mander, working through her company Zanzara, was a design
consultant to HumanWare before her husband came on board. In a
bid to improve the look and feel of HumanWare products, the
Manders drove a move to bring the industrial design of products
in-house. "Up to six months ago, that was done externally," says
Richard Mander.
HumanWare has also moved to bolster its RandD capability by
underwriting an assistive technology research group in the
University of Canterbury's fledgling UC-I3 innovation centre.
A bare patch of land on the university campus indicates where
UC-I3 will take shape when construction begins next month.
Funded by the Government to the tune of $9.7 million, UC-I3
matched the public funding dollar for dollar through
contributions from IBM, Hewlett Packard, HumanWare, Jade Software
and Tait Electronics.
The idea is that postgraduate students and staff will
collaborate on research projects with the tech sector, creating
spin-off companies and intellectual property that generates
income for its owners.
The resume of the man recently hired to lead the centre
indicates exactly the direction the university is taking with
UC-I3. Dr Darin Graham hails from Canada where, as the president
and chief executive of Communications and Information Ontario, he
forged joint ventures between academic researchers and industry
heavyweights like Research In Motion and Nortel.
"The Kiwi approach to innovation is very entrepreneurial," says
Graham.
"For me, I think this could have huge impact not only for the
university but the industry itself."
The centre has seven research themes, one of which is
geospatial technology, led by another import, British scientist
Dr David Parker.
Parker's students may spend a good deal of their time tinkering
with miniature planes assisted by the Model Aircraft Association,
but the research has a serious -- and commercial -- focus.
The geospatial team works on image sensor and
global-positioning technology, some of which can be mounted on
unmanned aerial vehicles.
Parker rattles off the potential applications of the group's
technology: testing water uptake in crops, finding lost people,
atmospheric testing, setting up airborne communications networks
in time of disasters.
Started with a $2 million investment from the Government and
$900,000 from the Canterbury region, the geospatial group landed
11 commercial contracts worth more than $500,000 in its first
nine months of operation, said Parker.
"We're attracting PhDs from around the world."
Mander, for his part, hopes to attract some top engineering
talent to the area of assistive technologies and HumanWare is
working with the Christchurch City Council to set up the city as
a test-bed for new assistive technologies. "There's no reason
why New Zealand couldn't become a global centre for this type of
thing."
Helping hand
* The BrailleNote is a mini-computer that allows blind people
to access tools such as word processing, email and web-surfing.
* It has been largely responsible for HumanWare claiming a 60
per cent share of the global market for assistive devices for the
blind.
* Blind children pick up a BrailleNote at 10-12 years of age,
giving HumanWare a recurring revenue for years to come.
* HumanWare is also working on other devices such as digital
magnifiers and talking book players.
httpccwwwddnzheraldddcoddnzstauthorststoryddcfm"aid equals
18andobjectid equals 10462132andpnum equals 0
--
Blationews mailing list
To contact a list moderator about a problem or to make a
request, send a message [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Blationews list is archived at: httpccGeoffAndWenddcom/blst
To address a message to all members of the list, send mail
to:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Access your subscription info at:
httpccblprogrammingddcom/mailmanstlistinfostblnewsblprogrammingdd
com
To unsubscribe via e-mail: send a message
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word
unsubscribe in either the subject or body of the message
"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real
action is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell
converge."
--Robert C. Shannon
Coffee Shop phone number: 773-572-3094.
___
Replies to this message will go directly to the sender.
If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a
copy to the list as well.
To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit
http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
