High tech St. John�s company plans to expand into New York City

A high-tech company in St. John�s that has already established a successful office in California, hopes to repeat its success on the American east coast. ZeddComm Inc., information technology consultants, is examining the feasibility of opening an office in New York. The Department of Development and Rural Renewal will provide $25,000 through its Business and Market Development Program to the project, and ZeddComm is providing an equal amount.

"This dynamic young company established its first United States office just 18 months ago. Today that office accounts for more than 50 per cent of ZeddComm�s sales with clients such as Cisco Systems and Canon," said Ernie McLean, acting Minister of Development and Rural Renewal.

"Thanks to modern communications, ZeddComm is able to provide IT services to its United States clients from a staff of 40 located here in Newfoundland and Labrador. This funding will help ZeddComm assess whether it will be able to repeat its export successes in New York City."

Initial research indicates that the United States east coast differs from the west coast with different clients, pricing attitudes and opportunities. ZeddComm will contract the services of an expert to conduct a two-month test market to investigate east coast sales and marketing as well as legal, contractual, immigration, taxation and accounting issues associated with expansion in the US.

ZeddComm president Emad Rizkalla, 32, said his company�s success in California has been based on the quality of its relationships with its clients as much as the quality of its products. "In California there is a high turnover in the IT industry, so our clients value the continuity of dealing with the same people and building long-term relationships. Word of mouth is also important, which is part of the reason for having an office in the area where you hope to do business," he said.

ZeddComm was formed in 1994 and focuses primarily on e-commerce and e-learning. For IT giant Cisco Systems, ZeddComm converted their in-house instructor-led training to an on-line self-paced system. For the NBA Oakland Golden State Warriors, ZeddComm produced a website and on-line ticket ordering and season pass renewal system. ZeddComm has also produced on-

line leasing systems that allow clients to lease large industrial equipment on line, and it has produced educational CD-ROMs for the healthcare industry. ZeddComm staff include graduates from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Harvard, Berkeley and Oxford.

The Department of Development and Rural Renewal�s Business and Market Development Program is designed to provide new entrepreneurs and expanding small businesses with funding to help them acquire the expertise to pursue new business ideas and new markets for their products and services.

Media contact: Clifford Grinling, (709) 729-7066.

2000 12 13 11:55 a.m.