By Iain Laing, The Journal www.nebusiness.co.uk
TECHNOLOGY company Nomad Digital, global leader in transport-based data communication, has signed an agreement with China’s main supplier of motors and propulsion control.
The Newcastle company, which is aiming to double its turnover to £10m this year, has largely grown its business working for rail companies around the world to provide passengers with wi-fi so they can use their laptops.
The new agreement, with Changzhou Railcar Propulsion Engineering R&D Centre (CPC) is to market Nomad’s two-way broadband connectivity for trains to the Chinese mainline rail and Metro rail markets.
The agreement commits both parties to work together exclusively to sell and deliver solutions based on Nomad technology that has already been demonstrated on Wuhan Metro and which is currently being installed for trial in the Shanghai Metro.
The alliance will sell and deliver solutions including engine condition monitoring and security and passenger services. It will jointly exploit CPC’s strong and trusted presence in the Chinese market, encompassing propulsion, control, power and other fields, and Nomad’s technological capabilities.
“We are very excited by the potential of this alliance with CPC,” said Nigel Wallbridge, Nomad’s executive chairman. “We have been very impressed not only by CPC’s proven record of success in the Chinese market, but also by their evident track record of building on relationships with foreign companies. We look forward to forging a successful future together.”
CPC chairman Zhou Licheng said: “We have a strong belief that Chinese railways will be recognised as leading the world. Introducing the latest technologies is a natural part of developments here, which will shortly see China having the largest high-speed network, and the largest number of metro systems, of any country.
“We believe that bringing Nomad’s communication technologies to the Chinese market will help solidify China’s lead in railway developments worldwide.”
This agreement comes in the wake of announcements of the installation of Nomad services on Norwegian Railways and the Dubai Metro, as well as additional Virgin routes in the UK.
Its most recent large contract was a deal worth tens of millions of pounds with Dutch transport company NS Intercity. Nomad, working with T-Mobile, will provide passenger information services and passenger wi-fi services on NS trains.
