Multiemedia founder sees luck, skill behind success By Roz...

Multiemedia founder sees luck, skill behind success

By Roz Alderton
SYDNEY, March 5 AAP - The founder of Multiemedia Ltd believes it
was a combination of skill and luck that led to his small
Australian technology company winning a lucrative contract with the
United States military in Iraq.
Adrian Ballintine, 48, said the contract came out of a trade
fair in Dubai in November last year.
Multiemedia had just moved into a new area of business -
providing internet connections via satellite.
The company's satellite teleport hub, located in Newcastle, New
South Wales, only went live a couple of weeks earlier.
Mr Ballintine said Multiemedia went to the trade fair with
little expectation.
But it ended up with a deal with the United States Agency for
International Development in Iraq worth at least $5 million.
The company also signed up with a number of other companies in
the Middle East, including the Central Bank of Iran.
"There's a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill at being
at the right place at the right time," Mr Ballintine said.
"Satellite technology is right-place-right-time technology."
Mr Ballintine said Multiemedia had not even planned to activate
the satellite beam over the Middle East until later this year.
But now, Multiemedia is providing satellite internet access to
nine Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi
Arabia.
Mr Ballintine said in Iraq, Multiemedia had now installed 35
1.2-metre satellite dishes on roofs of buildings to provide
broadband internet access for people working with the US rebuilding
efforts.
He said that could end up being expanded to as many as 400
dishes in Iraq.
"The Middle East is perfect for us," Mr Ballintine said.
"It's not really wired at the moment. There's not a lot of cable
in the Middle East."
Mr Ballintine - who founded Multiemedia in 1985 - said he'd
worked with many different technologies over the past two decades,
but has finally hit on the most lucrative one.
"The technology that we're working with now and that we're
deploying is going to be the most successful of those
technologies," Mr Ballintine said.
"I think we offer a very strong point of difference. We offer
something that's not there at the moment.
"Wherever you are, in Australia, India or China, if you offer
something that's competitive and innovative, it works."
Multiemedia has also recently signed a contract to provide
satellite broadband to more than 700 Woolworths stores in
Australia.
Multiemedia receives about $5000-$6000 for installation, and
then ongoing fees for the amount of broadband required.
The company is based in Melbourne, has about 55 employees, and
is divided into two business units - NewSat, the satellite
broadband services division, and Multie Technology Distribution, a
wholesale computer distribution company.