Software firm takes jab at iPhone apps

Auckland-born software firm Ceiba Solutions has developed an iPhone application for the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, Novartis, and says it is helping major clients make the leap into social media.

Ceiba has five of the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world on its books.

It is now headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States but develops much of its software in Wellington.

The Novartis application lets American parents keep track of what their children have been immunised for, and notifies them of vaccinations they need, says Ceiba chief executive Lindsay Rewcastle.

"It also picks up the GPS co-ordinates of the iPhone and gives you the name of all the pharmacies within five to 10 miles of your house where you can buy that vaccine."

The application currently only works in North America, but Ceiba is releasing a version for Europe in response to demand there.

The company also provides software that manages DNA analysis for Sanofi-Aventis, Abbott Laboratories and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

It provides what it calls "dashboard" software for Novartis, which lets it pull together all its research and administration data so it can be easily searched.

Ceiba is helping clients make the move into social media, Mr Rewcastle says.

"A lot of customers have said, `We actually don't know a lot about this, but we think we need to get a little bit more into it'."

One application under development is a game that rewards performance by laboratory scientists, while another encourages consumers to manage their health through a game.

Massachusetts-based Asthma Signals has commissioned a smartphone application that will help users manage asthma attacks by drawing on weather and other environmental data.

"If the temperature is too high or it's too humid or the pollen count is up, you can decide not to go to school, or not to go out."

Measuring and responding to environmental factors has been proven to reduce asthma attacks by 90 per cent, Mr Rewcastle says.

Ceiba has about 40 staff split between the United States and New Zealand, with all software development led by a team in Seaview, Petone.

Ceiba employs about another 10 staff in Australia, Britain, Japan and Fiji.

The company turned over $8 million last year, and about 99 per cent of its revenue comes from overseas.

"We have done three multi-million dollar deals in the US in the last 18 months."

The firm started out in life sciences and research and development but is moving more towards healthcare applications, he says.

"That's where a number of the companies want us to go. There are tools like iPhones and websites and social media ... you can do things today you just couldn't do two or three years ago."

- © Fairfax NZ News