NextWindow wins global contract for HP

NEWS RELEASE
13, February 2007

NextWindow wins global contract for HP

Auckland based high tech company, NextWindow, has just scooped the big one – a global contract with Hewlett Packard (HP).

This makes NextWindow the first company in the world to introduce optical touch screen technology to the volume markets – a miniaturisation program made possible with the support of funding from Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

Al Monro, chief executive of NextWindow, says New Zealand can be proud that it is the pioneering country of optical technology in touch screens.

“This technology was invented here in New Zealand and now one of the biggest makers of consumer PCs in the world will be using our technology in their products.

“Now there’ll be a little bit of New Zealand-inside in each of these PCs,” he says.

NextWindow was selected over international giants, including 3M and Elo (part of Tyco), to supply HP with optical touch screen technology for its newly announced TouchSmart PC.

The TouchSmart PC was unveiled by Bill Gates at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 8 as an example of new PC technology designed to take advantage of the new Microsoft Vista operating system. It was publicly launched on January 30 in the United States.

With the TouchSmart PC you can ditch your mouse in favour of your finger or a pen.

The Foundation’s Northern Region Manager Suki Siriwardena says: “NextWindow is a textbook case of New Zealand innovation where the company has worked hard, persisted and been able to use Foundation investment as a catalyst to shift into a higher value market.”

With the HP contract signed and sealed, NextWindow now faces another challenge – raising additional capital to fund the expansion of the business.

Mr Monro says: “We need working capital to continue to grow and fund our manufacturing expansion. There’s also a lot of headroom in the technology and we’re focused on continued research and development in this area.

“We want to develop proprietary integrated circuits to further protect the Intellectual Property, and we need to invest in our contract manufacturing facilities such as tooling, jigs, fixtures and test equipment.

“Our preference is to keep this company privately owned in New Zealand so we’re appealing to local high net worth individuals to partner with us into the future,” he says.

Prior to winning the global HP contract NextWindow was developing a leadership position within the interactive whiteboard and digital signage market with 95 per cent of its business coming from exports in Australia, USA, Asia, Europe and Scandinavia.

With the volume market underway, NextWindow is now turning its attention to the lucrative global interactive whiteboard market.

“The UK Government has mandated the introduction of interactive whiteboards into schools, and we can see that happening globally.

“We can supply the touch and annotation technology to interactive whiteboard manufacturers. At the moment we’re selling into Asia through our partners, but there is huge potential in the USA and Europe.

“The other big opportunity for us is in the area of digital signage. We have had some success domestically with Vodafone and others. We’re seeing good growth in Australia and the USA, and we’re talking to European integrators about utilising this touch technology for general purpose and special public information LCD displays,” he says.

About NextWindow
NextWindow are designers and developers of optical imaging touch screen technology. The company was formed in 2000 and its head office and manufacturing facility is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

All volume products are contract manufactured in Thailand. NextWindow has resellers of its products in UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Italy and France.

NextWindow targets three market areas:

1. Very large touchscreens over 65” that are used primarily in interactive whiteboards for education and conference rooms.

2. Large touchscreens for plasma or LCD displays from 32” to 65”, used for interactive public information displays and digital signage in malls, airports, retailers etc. These can be either overlays retro-fitted to an existing plasma or LCD display, or integrated within the bezel by major display manufacturers.

3. Volume markets for touch, such as retail POS (bars, restaurants, retailers), gaming machines, kiosks (airport check-in, photo kiosks), medical imaging devices, desktop computers, and with the new Microsoft Vista operating system, consumer PCs.

NextWindow has also received support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for both market development and participation in exhibitions which have helped grow the business, and develop channels to market.

Ends

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