News
Globe and Mail Article from June 23rd, 2007 edition.
SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION: PRODUCTIVITY: DISASTER RECOVERY
New technology in hot demand. Will investors respond?
TO THE RESCUE
 When
lives are at risk - in fires, floods, storms at sea, tornadoes or terrorist
attacks - survival often depends on first responders - the emergency response
teams whose personnel often face grave risks to save others. Despite advances
in technology, communication in critical situations continues to be a challenge
for these dedicated men and women. But a small B.C. company has the means to
change that.
Larry Cole, CEO and founder of Victoria, B.C.-based Madesco
Technologies Inc., says, "Post 9/11, I was doing a lot of work with
our navy. They called me with a request for communications equipment that I
thought I'd be able to just go to the Internet and order. When I couldn't come
up with anything, I thought, "How big is this problem?"
Awareness of that unmet need was the genesis of the company, says Mr. Cole,
but it would take four years of work with end users, including Coast Guard,
police and fire departments, to understand the depth of the challenges. Guided
by the needs of emergency personnel on the ground, Madesco's engineering, manufacturing
and technology experts eventually developed TeamComms™,
a wireless, hands-free system that enables users to hear and be heard simultaneously
at individual, team and command levels.
Thomas Kerr, a Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary certified Search and Rescue member
who heads up the world's first high-speed rescue craft simulator, says, "Quite
often, you'll have two search and rescue vessels working together on the same
call. Ordinarily, you'd take your radio, hit the transmit button, call the person
you're talking to, wait for a reply, push the radio button again and then transmit
your message. If you're in a critical situation that requires all your focus
- perhaps one hand is trying to hold onto the ship, bouncing around in rough
seas, and the other is tying a line or hanging onto a patient - the first thing
you
drop is maintaining that open communication flow."
Madesco's TeamComms™ system, conversely, enables
everyone on a rescue team to share observations while keeping their hands free
and radio channels open. "You don't have to touch your radio," says
Mr. Kerr.
"You can just chat into your headset and give your update, status or new
information to your commander-in-charge, maintaining what's called 'situational
awareness.' It reduces risk of operations by having up to-the-second information
flow, providing open and clear, consistent communication to ensure mission success."
The applications for TeamComms™ are virtually
unlimited, says Mr. Cole, with potential to increase the safety and efficiency
for law enforcement personnel, corrections, construction, military, border patrol,
flag people, rail yards, oil and gas and mining operations, firefighters: "Anyone
who currently uses handheld radios."
Allen Jones, the operations manager of the U.S. Department of Defense's FirstLink
program, says, "Communication as been identified to us as the number one
problem at a major happening. Radio and telephone systems don't all talk to
each other. We see Team-Comms as a major tool in solving that problem."
While Madesco's technology has the potential to meet an urgent need for first
responders and economically improve efficiency for a wide range of other users,
TeamComms™ is still in the development phase
as Madesco works to attract investors.
"We have the attention of some of the largest users in the world - the
next step is to get the attention of the Canadian investment community,"
says Mr. Cole.
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