BY ZHANG YI TING

THE outbreak of H1N1 flu has brought in huge orders for Cadi Scientific's consumer thermometer. And interest in the company's signature SmartSense wireless temperature and location tracking system is also up, with queries rolling in from hospitals from as far as Italy and Saudi Arabia.

But the company, which specialises in wireless sensing for healthcare needs, was not so lucky when it first started out in 2003. It was one step too late to leverage on the demand spurt arising from the Sars outbreak. The negative market sentiment then and the 9/11 attacks dealt Cadi a double whammy.

Hard pressed for investors, Cadi eventually landed NUS venture support, which provided it with $300,000 seed money. This was matched, dollar for dollar, by an Economic Development Board scheme, now dubbed Startup Enterprise Development Scheme under Spring Singapore.

These funds started Cadi on developing its trademark product - SmartSense, which gives hospitals automated patient temperature monitoring and location tracking. Patients wearing registered sensors - which weigh less than 10g each - on their abdomens have their temperatures taken at regular intervals. The information will then be transmitted wirelessly to receivers, allowing the patients' real time temperature and location to be monitered easily by doctors and nurses from their workstations.

The innovative system first went on trial in a six-bedded room at the Singapore General Hospital. It now operates hospital-wide there, as well as at Tan Tock Seng hospital. The system also earned Cadi the Red Dot design award in 2004.

The success of SmartSense was a confidence booster to Cadi's four founders, all of whom come from physics and engineering backgrounds, who had collectively decided on the healthcare sector from the very beginning.

'We find that nursing shortage is a global phenomenon that will worsen as years go by,' says Zenton Goh, chief executive officer. 'Also, we figured that consumer electronics is not suitable for us because of its short life cycle, and chose healthcare, where we can spend a lot of time to get a deep understanding of the market.'

The niche that they picked has turned out to be a bonanza, as the company now rakes in multimillion dollars of revenue yearly and employs over 40 people. Sales jumped 60 per cent in 2008 and the company is looking to double that figure this year.

To this end, the H1N1 flu outbreak has helped to drive Cadi's business. The company is now 'in serious talks' with many hospitals overseas, after receiving cold calls from hospital management in countries such as Italy and Spain, says Mr Goh. Cadi's overseas footprint can also be found in Malaysia, where it recently set up its first subsidiary. The company already has three hospital deployments there, with more in progress.

Another important market for Cadi is China, where it is considering the setting up of its second subsidiary. 'China has more than 10,000 county-level hospitals and this is a huge market for us. Moreover, China's economy is progressing well despite the economy downturn, and the Chinese government has set aside a huge budget for healthcare,' explains Mr Goh.

Between talks with hospitals, Cadi also picked up what Mr Goh calls 'low hanging fruit', which are consumer products such as clinical thermometers and digital blood pressure monitors that can be bought off the shelf. To date, Cadi has sold more than 50,000 units of its instant ear and forehead thermometer.

Looking ahead, Cadi will focus on enhancing its product range. It plans to launch an asset tracking system and a wireless vital signs monitoring system to build up its portfolio. Both systems will work on SmartSense receivers, making them cheaper to install once hospitals have SmartSense in place. The vital signs system will enable nurses to input patients' daily clinical parameters using a mobile computer to be plotted automatically and displayed on online clinical charts. The two projects are already at the testing stage.

Cadi has also rolled out a new product in view of H1N1 flu. 'We have re-strategised our product to enable easy deployment in hospitals and minimise chances of contamination,' says Lim Soh Min, chief marketing officer. The new plug-and-play system allows easy plug-in to existing LAN points. Monitoring can then begin immediately and the deployment time is shortened to just one day.

Products aside, Mr Goh says that Cadi does not want to be viewed as a company that just wants to sell products and services. 'Internally, we want our staff to have the mindset that we're here to help our customers, and help each other help our customers.'

Cadi was awarded the Frost & Sullivan customer service leadership award for the wireless sensor networks market in April.

Ultimately, Cadi's corporate motto is best summed up by its tentative tagline - your helping hand.

This article was first published in The Business Times.