New Zealand and the UK are using this week’s trade show
as a platform to promote innovative young IT companies. Arif
Mohamed looks at six of the best from each country
UK Trade & Investment, the government organisation that
supports UK firms trading overseas, is bringing together companies
with innovative technologies at the CeBIT show.
Jane Eardley, head of ICT at UK Trade & Investment, said,
"CeBIT allows us to showcase leading-edge technologies and
services. The UK@CeBIT initiative brings together academia,
business, regional development agencies, devolved administrations
and trade associations to highlight the best of British
innovation."
Naviguide Search Technology
Based at the Innovations Centre at the University of
Hertfordshire, Naviguide is launching website search software that
works within existing search engines. The software uses
context-based searching to provide a more detailed search.
It uses a downloadable Java script based on the user’s machine
and a script on the service provider’s site, said Guy Saward,
Naviguide founder and director.
"People are trying to make searching better by putting
information into context - we are the only ones doing this using
standard, existing websites. We repackage information that is
already available," he said.
Sound Foresight
Sound Foresight is a company set up by researchers from the
University of Leeds. The group has developed the Ultracane, an aid
for vision-impaired people.
The cane has a computer in the handle and uses ultrasound to
locate obstacles in the user’s path, converting the information
into vibrating buttons that tell them where and how far away the
obstacle is located.
Jane Fowler, managing director at Sound Foresight, said
Ultracane is based on "biomimetics" - a way of using technology to
imitate nature. "It imitates the way bats and dolphins use
ultrasound," she said.
Alan Brooks, new initiatives manager at the Guide Dogs for the
Blind Association, said, "Many engineers think they know what blind
people want, but here the developers have taken the time to ask
blind people and to involve them in trials."
Speed Trap
Berkshire-based Speed Trap is demonstrating software of the same
name that tracks the behaviour of website customers. It logs all of
their activities, even recording keystrokes, to find out what works
on an e-commerce site.
"You can find all the users who put a product in their basket
but did not purchase it. You can replay a session to see what
happened. You can see where people trip over forms and where there
are mechanical problems," said Malcolm Duckett, vice-president of
marketing and operations. He said Speed Trap tracks all user
activity on a website, not just predefined actions.
Mantic Point Solutions
Mantic Point Solutions is launching a product called Chaperone
that uses radio frequency identification to tag and track mobile
assets in hospitals, such as wheelchairs, beds and pumps.
Mantic Point’s research has found that hospitals cannot locate
between 15% and 20% of their 25,000 mobile assets, said Mike
Atherton, Mantic’s managing director. "Hospitals need to be able to
track assets quickly and get the right equipment to the right staff
in the right place. If I am a nurse, the last thing I want to do is
spend time tracking down equipment."
The system uses zones, assigning assets to areas of a hospital,
and uses browser software to locate the assets quickly. It supplies
full audit trails using active tags, which contain the battery.
DeadMan’s Handle
DeadMan’s Handle, based in Horsham, Sussex, is launching
software that can quickly delete sensitive information on a laptop
in the event of a theft. The software allows the user to set how
much they want deleted.
DeadMan’s Handle director John Brazier said, "When you lose your
notebook, the next thing you think about is the information on it,
particularly if you work for a large company. Fifteen per cent of
notebook thefts happen because of the information on them.
DeadMan’s Handle software quietly deletes the information on the
notebook, and then itself."
The firm will target the legal profession, the high-tech
industry, car firms, and organisations with high up-front
investments.
Cambridge Flat Projection Displays
Cambridge University spin-off Cambridge Flat Projection Displays
is showing a new kind of display that transmits information across
a panel using optical fibres instead of wires.
The screen can become part of an interactive gesture recognition
system. Displays can be transparent, flexible or wearable, for
example, as eye panels for virtual reality headsets, said Adrian
Travis, technical director. The optical screens could also work as
low-cost projectors, said Travis.
Fifteen companies from New Zealand will be exhibiting at CeBIT.
New Zealand is appearing at the show for the first time as part of
its Trade and Enterprise department’s strategy to establish the
country as an international technology provider.
New Zealand’s IT industry has become known for its 3D
visualisation and animation work in the Lord of the Rings films,
but it also has strengths in software engineering, GPRS, wireless
and telemetry, as well as moving into the outsourcing market.
NextWindow
NextWindow, which specialises in high-quality touch-screen
technology, has developed gesture recognition technology - a
concept seen in films such as Minority Report and The Sixth
Day.
The technology allows people to access services and information
from a computer screen with a wave of the hand.
The NextWindow eBeam Interactive Presentation software
recognises where the user places their finger on a screen and also
watches and interprets the user’s hand movements.
The firm said the technology can be used to switch on a PC and
surf the internet, control air-conditioning from a screen on the
fridge and to search for travel options and exchange rates from a
virtual travel agent’s window.
Navman
Navman is launching the Navman Pin 570, a GPS (global
positioning system) handheld device that runs on a Pocket PC and is
aimed at mobile workers. The £349 Pin 570 has a dedicated
navigation button that brings up the SmartST navigation
software.
This features "turn-by-turn" voice instructions, 3D and 2D map
views, a journey planner and navigation from the address book. This
means the user can select a contact address stored in Pocket
Outlook and be guided to their destination. Navman designs and
manufactures GPS systems for marine, personal GPS, fleet management
and OEM markets.
Information Edge
Information Edge is launching Vector, a tool that reports on a
company’s financial performance and also carries out statutory
reporting and reporting against regulatory requirements while
tracking changes within the organisation.
Mark Mills, business development director at Information Edge,
said, "The need to report transparently and meaningfully on an
organisation’s activities, while that organisation is undergoing
change, is one of the biggest challenges faced by commercial and
government operations.
"In the commercial sector this problem is compounded by
compliance regulations that require statutory and regulatory
reporting in addition to the normal management reporting needed for
day-to-day operations."
Right Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere, an enterprise software firm that specialises
in visual communication software, is exhibiting its Deep Server
Visual Information Systems and Deep Creator products. Deep Server
helps enterprises access and manage complex visual assets across
their applications for training, documentation, marketing, parts
management and support.
Deep Creator is an authoring tool for creating interactive 3D
environments, assemblies and objects.
Right Hemisphere’s software was used by Airbus for animations
and fly-throughs of the test ring built for the new A380 - the
world’s largest airliner.
Deep View technology has also been included in Acrobat and Adobe
Reader 7.0 so users can view 3D content.
Terralink International
Another 3D software firm, Terralink International, is exhibiting
software tools that can help businesses integrate their data sets
with imagery, cartography, spatial databases and mapping tools to
create geographic information systems.
The company specialises in digital mapping, remote sensing,
photogram-metric and aerial imagery applications and services as
well as multi-layer, interactive, 3D and data integration.
Hit Lab NZ
The Human Interface Technology Laboratory (Hit Lab NZ) is
demonstrating several products at CeBIT. The Lab is a
human-computer interface research centre, hosted at the University
of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The lab creates interfaces to "enhance human capabilities",
overcome human limitations and increase the flexibility and scope
of existing products by using technologies such as 3D panoramic
displays or virtual/augmented reality.
The lab aims to create inventions for the education, medicine,
scientific visualisation, telecoms and entertainment sectors.