Cyantel locates key deal with Vodafone in Germany


27 Nov 2003

Cork-based Cyantel has been awarded a valuable contract to deploy a location-based fleet management solution for Vodafone Germany’s business market.

The company’s E-Z-Manage Resource Manager technology enables companies to locate their workers using cell-based information from the mobile phone network.

Cyantel’s CEO Padraig Murphy told siliconrepublic.com that the networks have the ability to locate phone users by reference to the closest phone mast to an accuracy of around 300 metres in urban areas.

Accessed via a web interface, the E-Z-Manage technology enables any business to locate, interact and manage their mobile workforce. Key business segments that will be targeted by Vodafone Germany include transport, customer service engineers, emergency services and lone worker protection.

Murphy said that the deal came following significant research and development investment over the past four years that helped to boost its efforts in the competition for the lucrative deal by placing the company at the forefront of location-based technology applications.

“Our application is targeted at businesses with mobile workforces that can improve efficiency, productivity and customer service by knowing where their people are located,” he said.

Murphy explained that the company’s breakthrough in the German market, traditionally a tough market to crack for Irish companies, was enabled through his company’s links with Enterprise Ireland and Vodafone in Ireland. “We beat off strong local competition to win the project as part of the selection process and we were able to give a live demo within weeks of sealing the project.

“Mobile operators are discovering flat revenue in voice services and are looking to new value add data services that would help drive new revenue streams,” Murphy said.

Cyantel recently secured €1m in second-stage funding from a number of private investors as well as Enterprise Ireland and HotOrigin.

“We have 15 people working with us at the moment and the fact that we have been able to keep costs low has enabled us to expand quickly as the market grows,” Murphy said.

By John Kennedy