Daniels covers the world: From Death Valley to Antarctica and places between, James Bay firm's electronics are in demand

Times Colonist (Victoria)

Saturday, June 19, 2004

By: Carla Wilson

Ron and Terry Daniels

Daniels Electronics radio systems help watch over a fragile truce on the Sinai Peninsula. In the Antarctic, researchers count on the Victoria-made electronics to keep track of each other and of potentially dangerous weather conditions over vast areas.

In the hours after 9/11, U.S. officials rushed Daniels equipment to New York where it was used in the emergency response.

Daniels repeaters help with air traffic control in Russia, are in Canada's Arctic and are bobbing in marine buoys collecting environmental data off Spain and Italy.

Housed in an unassuming, two-storey beige-coloured building on Erie Street in Victoria, Daniels Electronics is a finalist for the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Centre's award for Company of the Year, to be announced June 24. Daniels is up against on-line bookseller Abebooks, and Procura, which produces software for community health-care agencies in areas such as billing and scheduling.

Daniels specializes in customized digital and analog radio repeater systems. In simpler terms, if you want to talk via a hand-held radio to someone in valley on the other side of a mountain, a Daniels repeater can pick up your message and send it along.

Daniels's low-current repeater systems are designed to work reliably in searing heat and frozen environments. This equipment is perched on mountaintops and has been installed in some of the world's harshest and most remote areas, where it will operate in temperatures as low as minus-40 degrees and as high as plus-60 degrees Celsius.

"This technology was basically developed for B.C. and it just went out from there," says company president Terry Daniels.

The British army, the U.S. Marine Corps. and navy, and the Canadian and U.S. coast guards are among the company's customers. B.C.'s forest ministry has Daniels repeaters at 350 sites, covering 400,000 square miles.

Daniels repeaters are used in fire fighting to help co-ordinate aircraft and firefighters on the ground, said Gerry Wight, company marketing director. Reliable radio systems are needed not only to plan the best way to battle a blaze but to keep firefighters safe as well. "It's literally life and death."

The future is bright because interest in this technology is strong, Wight said. "We have been riding the wave of demand for this product."

The privately owned, family-led firm has a history going back more than 50 years on our coast. It has 95 employees, some with Daniels for more than 20 years, with a total annual payroll of $4.4 million.

Daniels brought in more than $20 million in revenue last year. About 75 per cent of revenues are from U.S. customers, said Terry Daniels, 66.

Revenues have doubled since 2000, said brother Ron Daniels, 59, executive vice-president.

The brothers hope to see revenues double again within a decade.

The Daniels research and development team is working on products incorporating software to make it easier to configure repeaters to individual requirements which would result in economies of scale in production. They also expect offshore markets to grow.

A key advantage to Daniels equipment is that it needs little current to operate, drawing power mainly from "drastically smaller" solar panels than those used by competitors, Wight said.

That's a key consideration in remote mountainous areas. Larger panels are more expensive to buy and it is more costly to deliver bigger panels by helicopter.

Daniels is a success story that many people don't know about, Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said. "They have been pumping millions into the economy and they are good-paying jobs."

He is pleased to see the company in James Bay. "We are trying to keep as many businesses in the core as possible."

A picture of company founder F. Gordon Daniels, taken in the mid-1930s, is mounted on the wall of Terry Daniels' office. Born in Victoria, Gordon Daniels headed north to work as a telegraph operator at a lighthouse. He worked in radio communications for several years, eventually starting a business in Prince Rupert hand-building AM radiotelephones for the commercial fishing fleet.

In the 1950s, Gordon Daniels moved his business to Victoria. He died in 1962 and today sons Terry and Ron head up the company. Terry Daniels's son, Sean, works on the manufacturing floor.

The transition to the family business was natural for the brothers. "We were kind of weaned on a vacuum tube (an electronics component)," Ron Daniels joked.

Terry Daniels said, "It's challenging. It's fun."

The downturn in the fishing industry forced the company to expand its technological horizons. In the 1980s, it diversified into manufacturing radio repeaters and continues to produce new generations. When the company brought out a low-current mountain top repeater system, it was a commercial hit. Daniels won a $1.4 million contract to supply B.C. Hydro. "We haven't looked back since," Terry Daniels said.

In 2001, the company spent $1 million expanding its business premises, now covering 45,000 square feet. But before spending the money, the company surveyed employees to find out where they would like the business to be located and then decided to stay put.

Last year, the main Telus Mobility paging station, linking all its stations in that region, was destroyed in the Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire. Telus had worked with Daniels in the past and called on the Victoria company for a rush order for a new radio frequency power monitor panel. The panel is an essential component because it monitors its performance, said Telus spokesperson Shawn Kelly.

"Daniels was able to provide us a piece of equipment in a very efficient manner, which allowed us to restore the level of service to our clients that they have come to expect," she said Friday.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency took several Daniels repeaters to New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "It provided search and rescue and extended communications coverage throughout the New York region," said Douglas Bigrigg, sales director. More Daniels equipment was also sent to the Pentagon where police and firefighters used it.

Bigrigg travelled to Egypt, where the Multinational Forces and Observers use Daniels repeaters in their work to watch over security provisions of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

- - -

VIATEC

The Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Association hands out its 2004 awards this Thursday at The Empress hotel ballroom: Following is a list of nominees (more will appear in the TC business section next week):

HIGH-TECH COMPANY OF THE YEAR

- Abebooks: Launched in 1996 Abebooks.com had been the world's largest online marketplace for used, rare and antique books until this month when new books were introduced on the site increasing the company's inventory and scope. The company brings together buyers and sellers in a virtual online bookstore with more than 50 million titles being sold from 45 countries. CEO: Hannes Blum

Web: www.abebooks.com

- Daniels Electronics: The company which has been around Victoria for 50 years continues to be a North American leader in the design and manufacture of customized radio communications systems. It's base stations and repeaters are renowned for their ability to operate in extreme conditions. Vice- President and Chief Operating Officer: Robert Small. Web: www.danelec.com

- Procura: With an eye to optimizing heath care in the community and dealing with rising costs, Procura has developed software to manage scheduling, timekeeping, billing and office systems to ensure the right person is in the right place at the right time. President: Warren Brown

Web: www.goprocura.com

EMERGING COMPANY OF THE YEAR

- Genologics Life Sciences Software: The company has developed software and a laboratory information management system for laboratories to streamline data and laboratory processes. The result is lower costs, higher throughput, and increased customer service. The company's products, ProteusLIMS removes laboratory bottlenecks and increases the efficiency and productivity of service organizations and ProteusLIMS for research facilities will control and protect the integrity of sensitive data. President/CEO: James DeGreef. Web: www.genologics.com

- How2Share Technologies: H2ST is trying to change the way people buy, sell and share images online. With its PiXPO program (a global distributed digital imaging network) they claim sharing images is easier, safer and 10 times faster than the traditional means -- email attachments, or by posting images to a web site. President/CEO: Colin How. Web: www.h2st.com

- Netimage Media: The company is a web design, consulting and software development firm which claims to specialize in cutting edge web designs and content management for businesses and government. CEO: Loyal Chow. Web: www.netimagemedia.com

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR

- CRM3 (Convergent Media Network): The product is a customer relationship management software platform, allowing business to obtain and keep their customers by tracking their customer's needs by monitoring sales patterns. Web: www.theconvergent.com

- Mach-Vision User Interface Controller (Reliable Controls):

It's the first customizable and fully programmable wall mounted controller designed to monitor and control temperature, ventilation, heating, cooling and lighting systems. Web: www.reliablecontrols.com

- Mark II (Terra Remote Sensing): The next generation of Terra Remote's laser mapping system, the Mark II surpasses conventional air photo mapping in order to detail the 3-dimensional coordinates of specific points.

Web: www.terraremote.com

- Metamend SEO (Metamend Software): The SEO technology allows web sites to be relevantly indexed and quickly found by people searching the web via the top search engines. It also attracts target customers to the sites in question. Web: www.metamend.com

Spill Sentry Applied Microsystems): An early warning system to detect spills and leaks of oil on water. When the device detects a spill an alarm is sounded. The system can be set up to make phone call alerts or to initiate control actions like shutting valves if required. Web: www.appliedmicrosystems.com

INNOVATIVE EXCELLENCE: PROCESS OR PRODUCT

- CellFor: The world's leading independent supplier of high technology seeds to the global forest industry. CellFor is the first to have tapped into the promise of plant biotechnology to mass produce high quality, top performing conifer seeds quickly and dependably. The seeds are produced on a commercial scale for customers in North America, South America and Australasia.

Web: www.cellfor.com

- Radar HVAC Refrigeration: Now marketing its first system to provide early detection and diagnostics for refrigeration units. The system provides early warning of pending failure, meaning refrigeration systems can be monitored to ensure contents are being cooled at correct temperature.

- Redlen Technologies: Creating technology to deliver improvements in medical imaging accuracy. The process for advanced semiconductor imaging materials will enable a new generation of more accurate, all-digital, radiation-based imaging solutions. Web: www.redlen.com

- Target Recycling: Target produces a heavy duty industrial matting, made from recycled scrap tires. Used in the forestry, construction and oil and gas exploration, the matting is designed to reduce the ecological footprint left on the environment. Web: www.targetrecycling.bc.ca

- Vigil Health Solutions: Provides emergency response and monitoring with product line of nurse call, wireless nurse call, two-way voice nurse call, wireless pendants and a passive, non-invasive monitoring system for residents with dementia. The system can integrate with perimeter security, smoke detectors and existing communication and nurse call systems, placing all the systems on the same platform and saving the cost of replacing all equipment when renovating. Web: www.vigil-inc.com