KEY POINTS:
New Zealand-based ICT company Imarda sealed a $12 million deal with a major US freight company yesterday.
Chief executive Selwyn Pellett expects it to be the biggest information communication technology deal to come out of New Zealand this year.
Describing themselves as "Navman on steroids", Imarda designs, manufactures and distributes technology for fleet management.
A confidentiality agreement prevents Imarda from revealing the name of its partner, but Pellet said it was a large, publicly listed freight-carrying business in the United States considered to be an industry innovator.
The Business Herald understands it to be Fedex Freight.
Pellet said Imarda scored the contract out of sheer persistence. It had been in incubation for 18 months.
It involves an industrial-grade communications system for vehicles, known as Vector 300. Designed in New Zealand, the technology captures data from multiple sources including engine management systems, satellites and G-Force sensors.
The data is analysed to help the customer control its fleet. The first 1000 units of hardware were shipped to the United States this month.
While this is a large deal, Imarda sells its hardware in 20 countries, predominantly New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
"Imarda has developed world-leading technology in the telematics space, which is being recognised by a number of corporates around the world, including this one," Pellet said.
Telematics is the sending, receiving and storing of information using wireless devices.
Pellet said New Zealand has established itself as a global hot spot for telematics, but this did not help Imarda initially promote itself to the freight giant the freight company's directors threw away Pellet's business card after their first meeting.
"What happened was that multiple vendors failed, and we had the opportunity, just through sheer persistence, to get through the door and show them the technology we had.
"We call this whale hunting ... This is a very big whale, and it's a long time between feeds if you are targeting them," Pellet said.
Pellet describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur", having built up New Zealand high-technology companies, along with Imarda's chief operating officer, Claire Mitchell.
Pellett and Mitchell were senior managers when technology company Endace was listed publicly in 2005, and Pellet remains chairman.
When Pellett stood down from Endace last year, he and Mitchell put together a plan to roll up South Auckland-based Prolificx and acquire Perth-based Smart Track, to become Imarda in June 2007. The company is now thought to be worth between $15 and $20 million.
Pellet said Imarda aims to become one of the largest telematics companies in the world. It is looking at listing on a sharemarket, but has not decided on a country to list in.
The New Zealand market is not ready, Pellet said.
"There's a certain culture in New Zealand that bricks and mortar and high revenue are what you should invest in."
