09/05/03 - Denver software firm tunes in to deal with BBC
Fighting Bull Technologies LLC of Denver has become the first Colorado company to do a deal with the British Broadcasting Corp., one of the world's largest broadcast networks and a pioneer in radio, television and online technologies.
Th e Colorado software developer and the BBC announced the signing of a five-year cooperation agreement on May 8 in Denver.
"We're not aware of any other Colorado company to do a deal with the BBC," said Laurel Alpert, senior deputy director of international trade with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. "A deal like this means that, in the long term, there's potential for Fighting Bull and its technology to become very successful worldwide."
Fighting Bull's announcement coincided with the Belfast-based Invest Northern Ireland economic development group's announcement it will open a trade office in Denver. The INI is working with Fighting Bull on its BBC deal.
Fighting Bull declined to disclose the contract's value, but says broadcasters in the United Kingdom spend 217 British pounds, or $367.8 million, a year on network-control software.
"Our goal is to simplify the complex," said Frederick "Rick" Bolin, Fighting Bull's CEO and chief operating officer. "We're taking 3-D technology and creating a map of the virtual reality of a network."
The Fighting Bull-BBC partnership will create an interface between the Denver company's DpIV 3-D software and the BBC's digital broadcast infrastructure. The result will be a new software called pointTwo, which will belong to Fighting Bull.
The software will help the BBC troubleshoot problems with its broadcast system in a more efficient, less expensive way by creating a 3-D, real-time visualization of it, according to Fighting Bull.
The technology also will allow more collaboration between managers. Chief financial officers, for example, who used to have to go to engineers for information about the system will be able to access it themselves.
"The software closes the gap between technology and non-technology managers. ... It takes the fear out of technology, and lets everybody in on what's going on," said Bolin.
The company hopes to expand the technology to other industries such as bioscience and entertainment.
The Colorado company will handle the BBC contract through a six-month-old, Belfast-based subsidiary, Fighting Bull Broadcast Technologies (UK) Ltd.
FBBT hopes to move an existing temporary office to one of the BBC's Belfast buildings by Aug. 1. The company also plans to employ 20 people there to work on the BBC contract.
FBBT considered opening its BBC Belfast office in July, but that's Northern Ireland's "marching season." During that time, Protestant groups march to commemorate historical events and sometimes go through Catholic neighborhoods, sparking tension between the two, contentious religious communities.
Fighting Bull prefers to handle the BBC agreement from Belfast, but there's still an outside chance the company will do it from Scotland or split the work between Denver and Belfast, according to Bolin. Where the company locates depends on where it can get funding for the deal.
The Colorado company still must raise 2 million British pounds, or about $3.2 million, before it can start fulfilling the BBC agreement. Fighting Bull executives currently are talking to Invest Northern Ireland and other potential investors in the United Kingdom and metro Denver.
Fighting Bull decided to focus on doing business in Northern Ireland, as well as Colorado, because of that country's thriving software industry.
"The island of Ireland is the second-largest developer of software," said Jim Koustas, president of Fighting Bull Technologies. "It's got a lot of young talent and an entrepreneurial spirit."
Jim Lyons, a Fighting Bull advisory board member and partner at Denver law firm Rothgerber, Johnson & Lyons LLP, helped facilitate the company's interest in Northern Ireland.
Lyons long has had an interest in Ireland because of his Irish heritage and diplomatic involvement in Northern Ireland. He was President Bill Clinton's envoy to Northern Ireland for eight years as U.S. observer for the U.S. Fund for Ireland and head of the United State's economic initiatives portfolio for the country.
"They were, frankly, a natural match," Lyons said of Fighting Bull and Northern Ireland. "George Koustas is an old friend and longtime client, who diversified into high-tech startups some years ago and was looking for software engineers. I was familiar with the wealth of software talent and engineers available in Belfast."
George Koustas, Fighting Bull's chairman, is a veteran Denver real estate developer through Koustas Realty Inc. and Jim Koustas' father.
Fighting Bull also likes the ease of getting to Northern Ireland because of British Airways' direct flight to London from Denver International Airport. The London flight lasts nine hours, and it's only another hour and a half to Belfast.
"You can leave Denver and get to Belfast in time for a 4 p.m. meeting," said Bolin.
The Koustases launched Fighting Bull in 1996. George Koustas and his partner, Eugene Johnson, were primary backers.
The company name comes from Jim Koustas' hobby of bullfighting. He trained as a matador in this country, Mexico and Spain, and travels to Madrid every year to attend bullfights. "I also liked the name because it stands out," Koustas said.
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