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Equipment theft leads  to asset tracking system

Zia Systems creates devices that remotely monitor inventory

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By Elaine Morris Roberts, Staff Writer 10:40 PM Saturday, May 29, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — What started out as a theft of robotics equipment more than a decade ago has changed into a company that can keep tabs on just about anything that needs to be tracked.

Zia Systems, 250 Veronia Drive, creates devices — wireless radios, sensors and some integrated wired technology — that allow companies to remotely monitor inventory and assets.

“What we do is use technology to solve problems managing and monitoring company assets. Our focus is location — tracking assets within a defined geographic location and monitoring those assets within a defined geographic area using specific wireless technologies,” said Jack Conte, Zia’s president and CEO.

The technology company is the newest tenant in the National Environmental Technology Incubator, located inside the Mills-Morgan building at Nextedge Applied Research and Technology Park off U.S. 40 east of the city.

The NET incubator, an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation affiliated with Central State University, assists technology start-up clients with various aspects of business development.

When the idea for monitoring inventory came about, Conte was president of Environmental Pipeliners, a Dublin, Ohio-based pipeline rehabilitation firm that was acquired by Kokosing Construction Co., Inc. about 10 years ago.

“We had a large theft where someone came on to the property and stole a pickup truck and trailer that had all these robotic cutters inside,” he said. “I was very upset that someone would do something like that, so I started researching ways to track my equipment.”

So, he enlisted the help of his technologically savvy friends Gary and Larry Rapp, brothers with a long history of experience in the IT industry.

“At a social function, we sat down and started talking about what happened,” Conte said. “They researched it and came back to me and said we could create a device that would communicate with GPS devices mounted to my equipment and find out where it is.”

The first device was a GPS unit packaged with a cellular modem, which per unit was costly, but worth it considering the type of assets Conte needed to track.

“It ended up being a pretty good value. ...We developed the units and mounted it on all of our equipment — the software was all PC-based, so my staff could sit in the office and know where all of our equipment was,” he said.

That was 1997.

The fledgling technology company managed to secure three or four customers, including Columbia Gas, but soon found they needed to change their game plan.

“The net effect was that we were way ahead of the curve. Acceptance of new technology follows a basic pattern and the cost to get in and play was incredibly high. By the time everything went full-circle and the product was being readily accepted by the market, huge players like Garmin were getting into the market and we couldn’t compete with that,” Conte said.

Zia started creating value-added services including off-the-shelf components and products for specific needs.

Larry Rapp established a relationship with The Washington Group, a company that did work for the federal government which included decommissioning weapons and nuclear facilities, hauling nuclear waste and transporting military supplies.

The trio developed locking tracking devices for 55-gallon drums of hazardous and nuclear waste, a tracking system for Paladin tanks and tracking systems for overseas containers that were being shipped to Turkey then trucked to Iraq.

“We were coming up with all these great ideas, but it was all contract work and we really weren’t making any money,” Gary Rapp said.

Not their day jobs

While Conte and the Rapps were developing their technologies, all three were working full-time jobs elsewhere.

Conte was in the sewer and waterline construction industry, founding various companies along the way.

The Rapps both worked in the information technology arena. Gary Rapp was with Columbia Gas and Larry Rapp served as vice president of information systems for The Ohio Co.

In 2007, the team decided to get serious about Zia’s future and made the move to focus on its development full-time.

“We decided that if we were going to do anything and jump in with an idea that worked, we were going to have to give up our day jobs. ...We wanted something that was ours, that we owned, that we could build and market,” said Gary Rapp, Zia’s executive vice president and COO. “If we failed, then we failed because it was ours, not someone else’s.”

Then came the challenge of raising money.

“We were living off personal savings and every month we felt the burn a little more. ...We were all looking at each other wondering what we were doing,” Conte said.

Gary Rapp turned to the Dayton Development Coalition and its Entrepreneurial Signature Program.

After meeting Nancy Bridgman, the NET Incubator’s executive director and ESP committee member, things started to move in a more positive direction.

“They had a good business plan, knew their technology and had a passion for what they were doing,” she said, “but we saw a gap in their marketing strategy, so they got (an ESP) development services grant. It was only $8,000, but it was a start that helped narrow their focus to a target market — that was the key.... Even though this wasn’t a lot of money, it was just enough to help leverage the right step at the right time.”

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