Pulse Data International and Braillenote™

Pulse Data

The New Zealand owned company Pulse Data International originated in the early 1970s when the present CEO, Dr Russell Smith, utilised the expertise he had gained doing his PhD to develop sonar devices to assist visually impaired people. Since then the Christchurch based company has evolved through various ownership and product changes until it is now one of the world's leading manufacturers of electronic devices for totally blind and partially sighted people.

The company employs fifty-five people in Christchurch and another seventy throughout the world. 98% of its products are exported, to more than thirty countries.

Braillenote™

Amongst Pulse Data's products is a range of notetakers. Top of the line is Braillenote™.

At its simplest level the Braillenote™ is a personal computer which functions like a sighted persons laptop. A Braille keyboard allows the user to input and manipulate material such as documents, addresses, telephone numbers etc. (A version with a standard keyboard is available for those who prefer). To access the stored material, built in software drives either a voice synthesiser or, because many blind people prefer Braille to the synthesised speech, an eighteen or thirty-two cell refreshable Braille display. The Braille display is also less intrusive if the blind person is in a meeting or working in an office, although headphones can be used with the voice synthesiser if preferred.

Another feature of Braillenote™ that makes it a world leader is its "connectivity".

• It has a built in modem and industry standard email package so that messages can be sent and received wherever a phone line is available.
• Its operating system is Windows CE which means that many Windows based applications can be used. For example Microsoft Word files can be shared with the format kept intact.
• It can be plugged into a PC via the serial port and, with a screen reader like JAWS for Windows, the PC is accessible in Braille Braillenote™ originated from Pulse Data's involvement in the production of aids for the partially sighted. In New Zealand there are approximately 11,000 people registered as vision impaired. Most of these are partially sighted. A realisation grew amongst the staff that there was an opportunity for Pulse Data to enter the notetaker market.
  
  A number of key factors shaped the decision to begin development:

• The company had been dealing with blind and partially sighted customers for many years and had a good understanding of their needs.
• The staff had considerable expertise in both hardware and software engineering.
• They had an existing software package that would be applicable to a notetaker.
• The size of the company meant it could manufacture relatively small numbers and still make a profit.
• Their belief that they could make a superior product to those available at the time.
• Their belief that the technology would enable blind people to integrate more fully into the wider community.

In 1998 a plan of action was drawn up which began with a research program to identify customer needs, market trends and competitors.

A questionnaire was distributed to key organisations and people which sought answers for the question: "What do you want in a Braille notetaker?" Results came back over a nine-month period but it proved difficult to get an accurate feel of market needs from them. The development team had to fall back on the experience gained by staff in their dealings with blind and partially sighted people. Key customer needs identified were user friendliness, portability, efficient data management and the ability to exchange data.

Research on market trends indicated that the market was stable. Further, after suffering a decline for some years there was renewed interest in Braille and a major Braille literacy programme was under way in the US. Finally, the technology around which the product would be built was becoming smaller and cheaper.

As for the competition, there was one dominant company, which held an estimated 80% of the international market. Pulse Data's research led them to the conclusion that they could make a superior product.

As a result of the research the development team believed that "a true, primal customer need had been identified: the ability to exchange data with mainstream technology". A decision was made to proceed.

The next step was to come up with a broad definition of the product. In its final form this was: The product will have:

• Braille input
• Synthetic speech and Braille output
• Data management facility, e.g. word processing, calendar, address book etc
• Data exchange facility, i.e. email and file transfer
• A contemporary operating system The operating system was seen as one of the keys to ensuring "user friendliness" and "connectivity". Existing products used DOS based systems which were specific to a particular product and required the user to undergo a learning process in order to operate it effectively. Even when mastered they gave the user no access to the latest developments in technology.

Following the definition of the brief the team identified the challenges which would face the company during the development and manufacture of the product. On the engineering side it would involve the acquisition of new skills and knowledge of new technologies. The product would require the company to introduce new production processes and the production staff to acquire new skills.

Detailed specifications were then drawn up to address the brief and the challenges identified. These included the software and hardware platforms to be used. The specifications were subject to continuous review and modification as the various components of the product were developed and demonstrated to the stakeholders within the company. Wherever possible, their concerns were incorporated into the design.

Eventually an "alpha" prototype was produced for in-house evaluation and testing. Following this a "beta" prototype, which incorporated suggested modifications, was used for field-testing and a pilot production run.

Finally, in March 2000, Braillenote™ was launched at the CSUN Assistive Technologies Conference in Los Angeles. The development process had cost more than one million dollars and taken a lot longer than the original estimate. However, in the first three months after launch, actual sales exceeded budgeted sales by 200%. After nearly one year in production the company finds itself having to expand in order to cope with huge international demand.

The company now maintains an email list server for users of their notetakers This is monitored for ideas on how to improve the products. Together with feedback from their agents in various countries this has already resulted in the incorporation of some improvements in the products.

There is belief at Pulse Data that the future holds more opportunities. They recently formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft after Bill Gates spotted a Braillenote™ at a Technology show in the US. As a result Microsoft's E-Book project will be accessible to Braillenote™ users. Stevie Wonder is one of their customers and would like to see every blind child in the USA owning a Braillenote™.

With some exciting new product developments in the pipeline, Pulse Data International looks set to enhance its position as the leading designer and manufacturer of innovative technology for the blind and visually impaired.

The RSNZ would like to thank Greg Thompson, Maurice Sloan and Robin Williams of PDI for their help in the production of this article.

Visit Pulse Data's Braillenote™ website www.braillenote.com for more information.

Profile: Dr Robin Williams

Dr Robin Williams is Product Development Manager at Pulse Data. He obtained his PhD in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics in 1993 while working in the UK, first as a Research Engineer with Camberwell Health Authority, then as a Consultant for Vision Dynamics Ltd and finally as a Research Associate for the University of London. Robin has returned to New Zealand with the belief that the skills possessed by New Zealanders are a valuable asset for both the individual and the country. In his view Kiwis possess a broad range of skills and knowledge as opposed to the high degree of specialisation he discovered amongst his overseas colleagues. Consequently they have the ability to evaluate and share ideas and expertise outside of their ostensible specialisation. He sees this ability to communicate as one of the keys to successful product development.

Robin also believes that Kiwis with skills in hardware or software engineering can choose to work almost anywhere in the world. Since most eventually return, the experience gained working overseas is probably more valuable in the long term than the short term loss to New Zealand of their skills and expertise.

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