Veteran Ridgway jumps back into IT industry

IT industry veteran Mike Ridgway is investing in technology again.

Ridgway is taking a shareholding in data visualisation company iVistra and a seat on its board.

The former head of technology companies Sealcorp and Brocker Technology, which had combined turnover of about $200 million at their peak, has returned after a couple of years out of the industry.

Ridgway went into property development after Sealcorp and Brocker were wound up.

He will take a part-time operational role at iVistra, working with Virtual Spectator co-founder Craig Meek on software. The Parnell-based start-up has been developing technology which converts database information into graphics and diagrams.

A system developed for freight company TranzLink, operated via the mobile phone network, allowed a control centre to keep tabs on trucks and their contents as they travelled around the country.

Ridgway said he would concentrate on business development at iVistra as the company moved into a new phase where the focus was on "creating income from its extraordinary technology".

"When I saw what iVistra had I went 'wow, that's something I can sell'."

Ridgway rode the technology boom in the late 90s, building Sealcorp into a large computer equipment services and distribution company. He then headed what became the second New Zealand company to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Brocker Technology.

But by 2001, Brocker was in decline, lumbered with unprofitable business, its share price languished. When accounting irregularities were uncovered in Sealcorp's Australian arm, the group was put into liquidation with dozens of job losses. Creditors were owed more than $1 million. Brocker's local arm was shut down soon after.