Waikato software attracts US giant

By RICHARD BRADDELL

Lucent Technologies, the United States' seventh-largest technology company, has been granted an option to buy 20 per cent of WEL Technology, a software development offshoot of listed Spectrum Resources.

Financial details have not been disclosed, but Spectrum's executive director, Rob Levison, said the agreement would help with sales of WEL's contract management and billing software in deregulating electricity markets in Canada, Europe and, to a lesser extent, Australia.

WEL Technology was previously the software development arm of Waikato's WEL Energy. Its PV2 software is much more than a billing system and, said Mr Levison, had numerous applications in a variety of industries.

In June, Lucent paid $1.33 million to license PV2's source code so that it could be integrated into its own billing product.

Mr Levison said Lucent would provide expertise to accelerate software development while exploring areas for collaboration.

WEL's PV2 software had been sold to about 50 utilities in Canada, and Mr Levison said the wave of electricity deregulation underway in North America and Europe offered further opportunities.

Despite being a global leader in telecommunications technology, Lucent had little New Zealand profile until it won a $200 million contract to build a CDMA digital mobile network for Telecom last year.

Telecom's Australian subsidiary, AAPT, subsequently replaced its intended supplier, Samsung, for Lucent in its own CDMA rollout.