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Kiwi software company cleaning up in a recession

Kiwi software company Right Hemisphere has followed on from a successful 2008 by picking up a lucrative contract with the world’s largest supplier of commercial aircraft parts, Spirit Aerosystems.

Co-founder and chief technical officer Mark Thomas describes the new contract as being a “multi-million dollar deal” and will be spread over several years, with multiple projects to follow.

Spirit Aerosystems, which design components for Boeing, joins the company’s illustrious list of multi-million dollar repeat clients, including DaimlerChrysler, Bell Helicopters, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin and NASA.

Based in both Auckland (development) and Silicon Valley (marketing), Right Hemisphere produces intermediary software that provides a link between the highly technical CAD software (used by engineers to design components) and final applications by the marketing, executive and logistical departments.

The company’s Deep Server, Deep Access and Deep Exploration software effectively aid to produce a virtual representation of what the final manufactured product will look like and perform, allowing laymen and business strategists to make calls on costs, order parts and train staff on usage.

Users can in real time break any product rendered into the system down to its screws and wiring, and swap in and out components to suit any design or budget changes with little hassle.

The platform can then be adapted and changed to suit different projects, cutting down on lead development time and research and providing transparency throughout the design and construction process.

Before the Christmas break the company announced fiscal quarters one and two (June and September 2008) represented “a record number of bookings and averaged 200% year on year growth.”

The company has been phenomenally successful, picking up the  PricewaterhouseCoopers Supreme Excellence Award and NZ Hi-Tech Company of the Year in 2006.

The company’s software started out as a 3D object painting program used for video games in the 1990s, which, after a business rethink, it then adapted and expanded for real world rendering.

What used to incorporate 50,000-100,000 polygons in a 3D video game space, now renders (still simplified) real world items at around 300 million to one billion polygons – right down to screws, component weights and metal texture, providing the accuracy and malleability the Aerospace industry needs without unnecessary complications.

The company says its customers on average have achieved a 70-90% reduction in the time to create product graphics for technical documentation and training.

Privately owned and funded, the company’s business model and performance drew the eye of some platinum club angel investors – starting out with names such as Stephen Tindall in 1997-1998 and moving up to 2000-2001’s Sequoia Investment, one of the world’s top venture capital investment houses, and responsible for funding Apple, Google and Youtube at their inceptions.

Projects on the horizon include further projects with the aforementioned companies, plus further work with business software company SAP and the company’s software has been included on Corel’s design suite.

More by by Allan Swann

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