www.imediata.pt

Selling multimedia kiosks in the North American market is not for everyone. All the more so when among the clients are no other than the Army and the Navy of the world's most powerful country. Imediata can take pride in the fact that, in only half a dozen years, it brought its technology into the North American market and presently is reaping great rewards from this country.

Born from the womb of Inesc-Porto, one of the most reputable technological institutions in Portugal, Imediata is yet another company whose proficiency derives from experiences carried out at that institute.

Created as a spin-off in 1995, Jaime Silva and Mário Henriques, then researchers at the institute, amassed a sum of 10 thousand euros (also with the participation of INESC) and created a company, applying the technologies and know-how they had gained. 

Working with interactive products such as CD-ROMs and Net applications at a time the Internet was almost unknown represented dealing with technology with an enormous short/medium term potential. Imediata's founding partners understood this: "Everything started because a number of people working at INESC began to discover these new areas at a time when the Internet was still unheard of", recalls Mário Henriques, the company's administrator.

Imediata, Comunicações e Multimédia, SA, was finally created in March 1996, "appearing in the market with several innovative and interactive products", namely CD-ROM's and Internet applications.

The search for new business areas and market niches brought up positive results shortly afterwards. At that time, Imediata started developing the new abilities, those that are today the company's main ventures: e-commerce solutions and multimedia kiosks. 

This venture paid off entirely, for with this last product the company "took off". Today the kiosks represent, according to Jaime Silva, "about 80 per cent of the company's turnover", with a production of nearly 100 units per week, most of which are shipped directly to the United Sates. 

Furthermore, as João Paulo Moreira, the company's sales director mentions, "Imediata is the Portuguese market leader in multimedia kiosks" and has already become established in the North American market, where it recently acquired Connexxion, the company which sells these products, and whose clients include the American army and navy. And on the other side of the globe, in Australia, you can also find the kiosks of this Oporto-based company.

One of Imediata's most interesting characteristics is the fact that as well as developing the software, it also develops all the hardware necessary for the multimedia kiosks. By joining the metallurgical sector to the software, Imediata produces all the components for these kiosks, from the chassis (in a factory in Lisbon) to the computer, permitting it to work with its own design, ergonomics and a variety of models.

Bearing in mind this leap, it should come as no surprise that in just few years the company has grown from two to 200 employees (150 at the chassis factory in Lisbon and fifty in the development divisions, at Oporto) and from a turnover of 125 thousand to 3,75 million euros. 

Confirming its potential, the company's annual growth rate is of approximately 90%. 

Imediata is also involved in other areas, for example B2B, where it also intends to reach "market leadership", according to João Paulo Moreira's.

At the moment, the American market represents a turnover of 7,5 million euros for Imediata, about double the expected for Portugal. Conexxion, Imediata's division in the USA, is benefiting from excellent results and is influencing the company's course. So much so, that at this point, the external market is the company's main objective. 

This is the reason why Imediata, until now made up by six distinct companies ranging from production to assembly, is only a step away from becoming a holding, a step motivated by the need to "prepare for breaking into the international market ", states the administrator Jaime Silva.


IMEDIATA - Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A.
Rua de Grijó, 26
4150-384 Porto
Tel. (+351) 22 6190400
Fax: (+351) 22 6190498
www.imediata.pt