Rare Marine Samples Safe Thanks To NZ Technology

For immediate release: 14 July 2011

Rare Marine Samples Safe Thanks To NZ Technology

Rare marine samples, part of ongoing research, are being protected by a sophisticated monitoring system from a young New Zealand company that had its beginnings as an AUT University start up.

When an AUT PhD student and research officer in the Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute and her colleagues needed to make sure their container of rare marine specimens was continually kept cool, iMonitor used its remote monitoring technology to ensure the success of the research.

An incubated technology company from AUT University’s Business Innovation Centre, iMonitor provides solutions that enable the management of assets no matter where they are in the world via satellite, cellular and wireless mesh networks. “We were approached by iMonitor when they learned that we had a refrigerated container,” says PhD student Emma Beatson. “The iMonitor technology has helped us by providing a continual stream of data via the web on the temperature of our container. Checking this data on a regular basis gives us a peace of mind that our samples are at the required temperature. This is particularly helpful as we are usually based on a different site to where our samples are stored which means we can't physically be there to check on them as often as we would like.”

This case study is one of many where iMonitor is using its cutting edge technology to protect peoples’ businesses and products.

Founder and general manager of iMonitor, Allan Weeks, says they’ve monitored a variety of clients’ products including large refrigerated cool stores, ice cream trucks and refrigerated containers right down to air conditioners.

“Anybody who owns or is in charge of expensive equipment and products is automatically exposing themselves and their company to risks of failure or breakdown. Sometimes insurance will cover the loss and sometimes it won’t. Either way, there is a cost, so the trick is not to let it happen in the first place. And believe me, it can and does happen.”

Allan says real time wireless remote monitoring and control can be the 24 hour watchdog for virtually anything and can send alerts automatically at the hint of a problem before that problem becomes a disaster.

“I think most people think that because the technology is relatively new, it must be expensive, and yes it was,” he says.

“However costs have come way down in the past couple of years to the point where the solution costs far less than most insurance policies. In the case of the marine samples, there is no value, they are priceless. “

He says once people realised that there was a local company that could design and build technology, other customers approached iMonitor to engage in other technology projects.

“It seems that on specialised projects, Kiwi customers prefer to work with Kiwi companies rather than the big multinationals.” iMonitor is a local company that prides itself on being agile, adaptable and flexible and say they can create technology for almost any application.

“Rather than creating a product and trying to sell it to people, we’re constantly looking for gaps in the market and then creating technology for it. We’re market driven rather than a sales company,” Allan says.

ends

© Scoop Media