R&D Solutionz lands $18.7m international contract

Palmerston North electronics developer R&D Solutionz has landed an $18.7 million contract for the international distribution of its Gnome retail watchdog system.

The deal is with Korean IDIS Company and its United States subsidiary Hitron, and covers sale and distribution of Gnome throughout 90 per cent of the North, Central and South American market.

R&D Solutionz commercial manager Tony Chapman said the deal had been five months in the making.

The locally-owned firm, which specialises in retail and security systems, has been refining the Gnome for about five years. It was originally designed for service station use.

Hitron spent about two years studying the world market before starting detailed discussions with R&D Solutionz business development manager Warren Dickson.

Gnome is an intelligent "black box" that controls digital video surveillance of retail premises and ties the record to the transaction systems.

Customers are not aware of the system.

Gnome can pinpoint a single transaction in a 30-day timespan and directly link it with the visual record of the individual at the point of sale and, in service stations, of the vehicle at the pump.

The process takes seconds.

Mr Chapman said the "smarts" of Gnome allowed it to interface with most existing surveillance systems, almost all point of sale transaction systems and many digital recording systems.

The Gnome hardware is manufactured just out of Palmerston North in Marton by PEC.

The contract effectively quadruples the 15-person R&D Solutionz company's annual turnover, previously running around $3 million annually.

Group marketing manager Chris Symonds said the contract included a requirement for Hitron to provide monthly reports of Gnome's market performance so that R&D Solutionz could accurately monitor the individual market places.

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and Technology New Zealand, are helping R&D Solutionz to develop Gnome, including a capability to focus on vehicle registration plates in difficult light conditions.

- NZPA