Pingar Announces Chinese Search Platform

Pingar Announces Chinese Search Platform
Ministers Tim Groser and Pansy Wong on-hand to celebrate closer collaboration between Hong Kong and NZ

Hong Kong, 29 March 2010 - Pingar, the Tauranga-based tech company that has developed the next generation ‘intelligent’ search engine, announced today in Hong Kong that it is creating a Chinese-language version of the Pingar search platform.

The announcement came as part of a program to mark today’s signing of the Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) between Hong Kong and New Zealand. New Zealand’s Minister of Trade Tim Groser and Minister for Ethnic Affairs Pansy Wong are touring Hong Kong to assess how firms in the region can work together under the new CEP.

The ministers visited Pingar’s offices at the Hong Kong Science and Innovation Park, which opened in early 2009. Pingar has partnered with Hong Kong’s Compose Systems, a major developer of print publishing solutions, to build its Asian operations.

Says Pingar’s CEO and co-founder Peter Wren-Hilton, “We’re excited by the welcome we’ve received in Asia. Through workings with our Hong Kong partners we’ve identified key clients and demand for a Chinese version of the Pingar product. As such, we’re developing versions of the platform in both simplified and traditional Chinese, which is a major step for Pingar.”

Wren-Hilton added, “We look forward to realising what this market and the healthy trading relationship supported by the CEP have to offer. Asia has become a major focus for Pingar.”

Hong Kong is New Zealand’s ninth largest export trade market and worth approximately $823 million per year. The market is also strategically placed to benefit from growth in the Chinese and regional economies.

Asked to gauge what the agreement means for New Zealand companies like Pingar, NZ Trade Commissioner to Hong Kong and Macau Sharon-May McCrostie who attended the function said, “There are immense opportunities for Kiwi companies in Hong Kong, and the CEP provides certainty for New Zealand businesses either already active in this market, or looking to do business here. New Zealand companies that take a strategic, pro-active approach to engagement with Hong Kong and China are the ones that are best-placed to maximise the opportunities that this region offers. It’s great to see a high tech growth company such as Pingar doing just that, and I encourage other New Zealand companies to take a similar approach.”

The traditional and simplified Chinese versions of Pingar will be further developed in association with local universities. Pingar’s newest application will be demonstrated at the 2010 Shanghai Expo in July and will be available as a beta release for pilot testing with selected clients in Hong Kong and mainland China.

In short, Pingar changes the face of mainstream internet search. Pingar’s solution goes inside data documents, finds the content the user is seeking and then places it into a dynamically generated PDF or XPS document, rather than just presenting a list of links like the traditional search model. As the company likes to say: “it takes the browsing out of browsing.”

ENDS

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