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 Team-Comms, 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 upto- the-second information flow, providing open and clear, consistent communication to ensure mission success.”
The applications for Team-Comms 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 First Link 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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