Norcom's niche success
Thursday 18 March 2010
Article by Mark Lane (www.chambervoice.co.uk)
Did you know that , around the shores of the UK there are around 14,000-15,00 shipwrecks? On the face of it, this might sound like interesting yet ultimately useless information. In fact, the location of each wreck is actually of great interest to a number of groups - fishermen, divers, wind farm developers and historians for example.
This infomation was related to me by Phil Harris, head of Norcom Technology, a remarkable consultancy and software development company specialising in the specification, provision and development of systems for mapping, navigation and hydrographic survey. Harris was telling me about how Norcom has been given access to the UK Hydrographic Office's wrecks database which enables it to offer a product providing accurate data for each wreck - the latest in a line of positive devolpments for this local success story.
Norwich-based Norcom provides a range of software and services to government organisations, harbour authorities, oil companies, hydrographic survey companies, cable lay companies, dredging companies and freelance hydrographic surveyers worldwide.
The company's major move into the marine sector came in 1998 when it acquired Meridian Chartware, a company specialising in the devolopment of electronic chart software and related products. Meridian produces the RCDS (Raster Chart Display Software) range of navigation systems that use the UK Hydrographic Office's Official electronic charting system, ARCS (Admiralty Raster Chart System).
Harris likens Meridian's chart plotting technology to the sat-nav we have in our cars - albeit a marine equivalent and a considerably more complex product that takes in many more variables. The technology can be operated form a PC or notebook and Meridian is one of only two firms in the UK working in this truly niche area.