Ubisense

Deloitte Fast 50 2009 Cambridge winner Ubisense is a developer of 'ultra-wideband' radio location technologies. The Cambridge-based business has seen a growth rate of 2513 per cent over the last five years.

Ubisense placed second in Deloitte Fast 50 2008, and has experienced a successful year. The company has partnered with IBM, Accenture, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, and became profitable at the end of last year. Focus has remained on its original manufacturing market, in spite of challenging conditions. Richard Green, CEO explained: "It's been challenging, but we’ve had a good year. Our technology cuts manufacturing costs by increasing visibility, so in fact we've seen a rise in interest. Some sectors have been slower to make decisions, but not to our detriment."

Ubisense has also been actively seeking new markets. This has borne fruit with a series of contracts in the public transport sector. Green: "We discovered that regional bus companies needed to precisely track buses when they were parked in garages. Previously the dispatch team had people walking the floors, noting which lane each bus was in on a big map, so they could be dispatched in order. We've automated this, saving many man-hours. The first was Minneapolis, with 990 buses and -35 degree temperatures, it's important not to have to shunt buses around outside. We've got a series of other deployments in Europe along similar lines."

Other markets include a cow-tracking project with researchers in Denmark which has matured into CowDetect. Green explained: "Our technology is being used to track herds of cows up to 5,000 heads, and by overlaying milk yield data and distance travelled, the farmer can tell if animals are unwell. In addition if cows are inseminated when they are on heat milk yields increase 30 per cent - that's a real ROI gain. The tracking shows this data, and the service is totally managed, so the farmer just gets a PDA with an intuitive map on it – ideal, as farmers aren't traditionally keen on getting into IT!"

The company's active RFID technology has seen its operating range increased, while accuracy is still under 15cm in three dimensions. Customers now number more than 430, including names such as BMW, Caterpillar, DHL and the US Army. Beta-testing is under way on a product version to be embedded into production machinery as part of a development agreement with a global tool vendor. Green said: "We're very pleased with progress overall and this field testing could be a very exciting new avenue. The company in question has 25 offices in China alone, and over 800 field sales agents. If we're embedded there’s a fantastic challenge ahead!"