Export Award For Porirua Telcoms Company

Export Award For Porirua Telcoms Company - Exicom Technologies (1996) Ltd

International success in producing technology that links some of the most remote locations of the world by wireless to telephone networks has won Porirua company Exicom Technologies (1996) Ltd a Trade New Zealand Export Award.

Media are invited to attend the presentation of the Export Award to Exicom Technologies (1996) Ltd by Trade New Zealand Chairman David Moloney, at 3pm, Friday 19 April, at Exicom’s premises, Corner Prosser St and Mohuia Crescent, Porirua. The Export Awards are sponsored by DHL Worldwide Express.

This Export Award is the latest of several awards won by Exicom, a company that is recognised as a world leader in long distance, low capacity telecommunications linking using specially designed radios.

Chief Executive David Haynes says Exicom’s products are used by organisations with an existing telecommunications infrastructure that need to connect more remote locations into their network and where it is not cost effective to use copper cables. He says the products are used all over the world.

“An example would be an oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico that wants to talk with people in Texas. Or a remote village in the middle of Africa that has no infrastructure but a pole in the middle of the village with a solar panel and antenna at the top, a box with a radio in it half way down, and a couple of payphones at the bottom.”

Last year Exicom was awarded a two-year contract by the United Nations, potentially worth more than US$11 million. Mr Haynes says it’s the largest contract the UN Procurement Division has ever signed with a New Zealand company and is a coup, not just for Exicom but for the whole country.

“This contract is for the supply of specialist radios to UN peacekeeping missions worldwide. It has seen our products used in all sort of places around the world such as East Timor, the Balkans and shortly Afghanistan.”

The contract calls for a mix of Exicom’s traditional analogue equipment and its new digital radio, both VHF and UHF.

Mr Haynes says Exicom’s expertise in this small but tough niche market has been developed over many years, initially for the New Zealand market.

“We compete on product quality and functionality and take the time to understand our customers, designing new and improved products to meet their specific needs – it’s not practicable to make to stock.”

He says Exicom is the only company in this niche that will manufacture to meet a specific customer order no matter its size. That willingness to manufacture extremely small runs to a unique specification is a strong competitive advantage for the company.

Mr Haynes says Exicom is also unique in that it exports its products to more than 70 countries all over the world – more markets than any of its competitors. Principal export markets in 2001 included North America, India, the Middle East and Europe.

Trade New Zealand Account Manager Richard Hall congratulated Exicom on its Export Award, saying the company has an excellent understanding of the niche market it operates in.

“Exicom has positioned itself well for long term success. It reinvests considerable sums in the development of new and innovative products and has shown itself to be a world leader in the long distance, low capacity telecommunications linking global niche.”

David Haynes says to remain competitive, Exicom has to commit significant amounts to ongoing research and technology development.

“To be able to transmit the ever-increasing range of telephone systems features – voice, fax, internet data at faster rates, calling line ID, anti-fraud payphone - over a radio link and to pack the radio equivalent of a telephone line into ever smaller bits of scarce radio spectrum, demands that new and improved products must always be developed.”

Exicom employs some 75 staff in its Porirua plant. A very positive aspect is that all parts of the business are on one site. Regional Sales Managers maintain a select network of Representatives around the globe. These locally based representatives provide great local knowledge to Exicom and assist with possible export barriers such as language and cultural differences.

Exicom’s future plans include developing new and enhanced products, increasing its distribution network and market penetration in both new and existing markets. Mr Haynes says the company is also working to grow its ability to offer contract electronics manufacturing services to other companies.

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