Map gear maker works from Alaska

DAT/EM: Labor pool is small for digital cartography tool manufacturer.

By CLAIRE CHANDLER Alaska Journal of Commerce Published: March 7th, 2005 Last Modified: March 7th, 2005 at 02:34 AM Alaska is not known for its technology or manufacturing sectors, but that hasn't stopped Dat/Em Systems International from becoming a world leader in designing and manufacturing digital mapping software and hardware. "We were nobody 15 years ago," general manager Jeff Yates said. "We were a CONTACT USgrown software company and now we are duking it out with the big boys on the block."

click to enlarge Jeff Yates, general manager of Dat/Em Systems International, shows a vintage stereoplotter, a map-making device that has given way to newer technology.

Since Dat/Em's start in Anchorage during the late 1980s, it has grown from a few software engineers selling their first digital mapping product to a customer in New Jersey to a company with more than 350 customers in some 50 countries.

The Anchorage-based company now has 14 employees, two satellite offices -- in Washington state and Maine -- and annual revenues of more than $2 million.

Dat/Em stands for digital automatic technology engineering mapping.

The company designs software and specialized hardware to transform aerial and satellite images into detailed maps and data for geographic information systems. Private mapping firms and foreign militaries are some of the organizations using the company's products.

Dat/Em's primary product is a digital mapping workstation, which includes specialized hardware designed and manufactured in Anchorage, along with the accompanying software, now in its third version.

"It took us three tries to get (the software) right," Yates said. "But we have a world-class product now that is propelling us forward and keeping us competitive."

The company has thrived in the niche market of digital mapping -- made up of some 20 competitors and only about 10,000 potential customers worldwide -- because it maintains a customer-oriented approach that can begin years before the customer has bought any of Dat/Em's products, Yates said.

"There is quite a sales process. About 80 to 90 percent is done on a personal level," he said. "Some sales take two years."

Along with offering custom programming, Dat/Em's software and hardware engineers regularly update and develop its products based on customer input. "This field is so specific, we need to listen and respond to our customers' needs," Yates said.

Maintaining contact with Dat/Em's customers has taken Yates to more than 40 countries, including Pakistan, Japan and Kenya, he said.

Former Gov. Walter Hickel named Dat/Em the 1993 Exporter of the Year. Since then, the company's international customer base has continued to grow.

Last year, Dat/Em shipped about 30 percent of its products inside the United States, with another 30 percent going to Europe. The other 40 percent went to Asia, said Jerry Shively, the company's international sales director.

The company also has some customers in the Middle East and Africa, and is venturing into China later this year, Shively said.

Yates also attributed Dat/Em's success to its staff, but finding well-educated and innovative people isn't always easy, he said.

"We are not in Silicon Valley, so we don't have a highly trained labor pool," he said.

Dat/Em and its parent company, AeroMap U.S. Inc., recently donated more than $100,000 in software and other products to the geomatics department of the University of Alaska Anchorage. In an effort to draw more students from UAA into the field, internships with Dat/Em and AeroMap are available year-round.

When Yates hires people from outside the state, he stresses how tough Alaska's cold, dark winter days can be, trying to ward off someone who may leave after the first six months. For those who stay, they come to love the amenities of living in the 49th state, said Yates, who has climbed Mount McKinley and makes every attempt to avoid work-related travel during the fishing season.

Despite the state's limited labor pool, Dat/Em has turned its geographic location into one of its biggest assets.

"We have based a lot of our marketing on the persona of Alaska," he said. "We market Alaska as part of our theme, and it helps distinguish us from our competition."

The company uses images of Alaska's mountains and glaciers to draw people to its booth at trade shows, Wilster said. She added that with each purchase of a mapping workstation, customers receive a framed picture from Alaska.

"We have one client, I owe him five photographs. That was part of the sales deal," she said.

In the future, Yates would like to see Dat/Em grow and add more employees, but not at the expense of what has brought the company success, he said.

"We are pretty comfortable where we are. Maintaining profitability is more important than growth," Yates said.

Distributed by The Associated Press.