A quiet word for emergency services

First to market with a noise-canceling microphone that can be used by firemen and police in emergency situations, Cork company ODG Technologies is about to ship its first US orders, “In emergency situations such as fires, bomb blasts, and riots, communications can be very difficult because of high noise levels caused by crowds, sirens, alarms and explosions,” says ODG CEO and co-founder Mark Griffin who believes there is a global market for this technology.

“This is a time when clarity of communications for first responders is vital — they need to hear commands correctly and they need to know if they are in immediate danger.”

ODG launched the microphone on the market late last year, initially focussing on the public safety industry in the US where 480,000 radio handsets are sold annually to the police and firefighting services and the market is estimated to be worth $96m (€73.4m).

Employing a staff of five, ODG is targeting sales of over €1.5m in the US by the summer of 2014, while also making long-term plans to develop European sales.

The foundation of ODG came about as a consequence of the closure of the Harris plant in Cork in 2010. Mr Griffin and co-founder Enda O’Dowd were engineers who worked in the area of public safety equipment with Harris.

“When Harris announced its closure plans we came up with the idea fairly quickly,” says Mr Griffin. “We identified a gap in the market for this type of technology and we approached Enterprise Ireland and got assistance under the Enterprise Start Programme.”

The aim in setting up ODG in mid 2010 was to develop a noise-cancelling microphone and to research the development of intelligent radio accessories for the public safety market.

Set up at Mr Griffin’s home, ODG took on two engineers who worked with Mr Griffin for a year and a half on the project, trying to adapt existing technology to create a new product. Eventually, ODG partnered with a US company which produces voice processors for mobile phones and worked for a year on adapting this technology to meet ODG’s needs.

“By late 2012, we had a demonstrable product to show the market,” says Mr Griffin. “You can stand with a chainsaw in one hand and a radio in the other and still hear the voice on the radio clearly.”

The company outsourced the manufacture of the microphone to a company in Shannon and will look at other manufacturing options as volume increases.

In 2011, ODG secured a place on the Genesis programme at CIT, and was identified in 2012 by Enterprise Ireland as a high-potential start-up. Since its inception, in the region of €500,000 has been invested in ODG, including funding from Enterprise Ireland and private investors as well as some from the founders.

Now employing four at the Rubicon Centre, Cork, including Mr Griffin, ODG also has a director of sales in Boston and is using the services of a consultant in the US who has shown the device to police and firefighting services in places such as New York, Huntington, and Middlesex.

“At the early stages of development, we identified the best route to market in the US as selling through existing resellers of public safety equipment and we have now selected six companies who we would like to work with,” says Mr Griffin.

The first shipment, going out in May, involves sample orders to distributors in New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, and Florida.

“We expect to have orders of $350,000 by the end of May and we are targeting a turnover of €1.6m by the end of the next financial year in June 2014,” says Mr Griffin.

Making plans to launch in the UK, Germany, and France in 2015, ODG is working on developing a number of other products for the public safety market.

The next one to hit the market will be a radiation sensor for firefighters and police personnel which can be attached to their radios. This will alert them to the presence of radiation in emergency situations and can be used to track down radioactive material and to warn emergency personnel of its presence, says Mr Griffin. ODG plans to raise additional funding later in the year which will be used in the further development of the concept.

ODG sees opportunities globally in providing intelligent radio accessories for the public safety market and is aiming to establish itself as a leader in the field.

“Next year we aim to double the staff size. If the radiation accessory takes off as planned we can quadruple our sales numbers within 18 months,” says ODG.