Dean Welten always had an eye for electronics. When he was 3 years old he would follow the electrician round his house, picking up bits of wire and putting them in a bag. So it's no wonder that today he runs the largest Fuel Management System in New Zealand, creating innovative electronic equipment that's powered by NZ Code.
Like a lot of NZ tech companies, Everlink had to fix a pretty specific business problem to stay in the market. Dean saw that many of the imported fuel management systems around the country "[were] running on older technology.....they weren't very flexible in how you could use them." So he and his team got to work, creating an easy to use fuel management solution that was designed and manufactured in Tauranga.
Everlink's NZ Code Innovation
For Dean, the most important part of Everlink's appeal was that it was easy to use. That means it's simple for companies to track and administer their fuel assets with a cloud-based online portal and strong security features. Users can identify themselves with a range of tags or codes, while the system accurately tracks who and when uses the system.
But at the same time, it's also easy for on-the-ground users to utilise the system without "having to call for help every five minutes," according to Dean. But when the systems do fault, it's not always necessary to bring someone in for repairs. "We try to design products that diagnose their own faults," explains Dean, "so that when someone rings us up, we already know what's wrong with the system. There's [also] a lot of self-diagnostics and self-healing...if the system needs to restart itself, it can do that."
Everlink utilises an internet of things approach, where the systems connect wirelessly to the internet and centralise the data so it can be examined anywhere in the world. However, many of their products operate in very remote environments, so Everlink uses the latest in technology to ensure that remote systems can communicate and share their data too. Dean explains, "We use a CAT M1 band....it's a 4G LTE band that's dedicated for the internet of things, It runs at a lower frequency so we get better coverage where a phone wouldn't work for instance."
Why Dean and Everlink are Proud to Code in New Zealand
Everlink is a growing company that are currently expanding into Australia and beyond. But despite this, Dean says they remain proudly Kiwi and display the NZ Code trademark. "We're just really big about manufacturing and doing things in New Zealand, we're really proud of it. Being able to put that on our code as well, it's giving our coding guys a bit of prestige as well."
But more than just being proud Kiwis, Dean maintains that New Zealand is a fantastic and world-renowned environment to grow tech. "We're seeing a lot of interest in New Zealand technology and things done in New Zealand, we're getting enquiries from all over the world at the moment."
Everlink is pushing the envelope in the fuel management sphere and Dean believes that New Zealand has smart enough people to push more of our NZ Code onto the world stage. "We're from New Zealand, we've made it in New Zealand, New Zealand's got great technology. There's no reason we can't be the best in the world with what we do."