Where we come from
TruTeq rose from the ashes of the corporate failure of a NASDAQ-listed company in 2001. Realising the potential of GSM-based products, a number of ex-employees formed TruTeq. Unsuccessful at raising venture capital, we decided to self-finance and ride it out. All our operations and projects are now completely internally financed.
We have built up an extensive product range and enjoy exports to various countries.
Our values
We didn't want to follow in the ways of our previous employers, so we set ourselves very high standards. The most important ones are:
- Fair and ethical treatment of employees
- Having a stimulating and creative work environment
- Building long-term partnerships with our customers
- Delivering value as well as competitive advantages for our customers
- Ethical values in winning new business (yes - even in Africa)
- Not using our credit terms with our suppliers to finance our operations
Awards
The Technology Top 100 competition is a program endorsed by the South African Government. The best of the best tech companies compete fiercly every year for this coveted award. We have seen our share of the action with awards as follows:
- 2002 : Honourable mention for R&D as well as Most promising small startup
- 2003 : Technology Top 100 Company
- 2004 : Information, Communications and Technology : Hardware
- 2005 : Technology Top 100 Company
- 2006 : Technology Top 100 Innovation Finalist
The adjudication process is not just limited to the technology of the products, but rather the company as a whole, including facets such as financial performance, HR policies, environmental policies, IP management, supplier and customer management and a long list of other points.
Adjudication includes three elimination rounds with an on-site visit.
Our market
GSM Technology has spread to almost every corner of the globe. According to GSM World (www.gsmworld.com), there are 29 GSM connections for every 100 humans on Earth. More than 200 territories or countries support hundreds of Network Operators with almost 2 Billion subscribers.
Our core business is the development of GSM products. This extends from some or other data terminal all the way into the GSM network to routing and billing systems that handle and process billions packets of data.
Data terminals have peculiarities that make their development and mass production extremely challenging and risky. Unlike software, they have to be perfect the first time. Add the sometimes-unpredictable behaviour between the terminal and the GSM Network, and one can appreciate that years of experience are crucial to be able to be successful.
Our GSM Network software started with a positioning system (LBS) and we ended up with a suite of products that challenge and exceed the performance and functionality of the traditional big names in this industry. Network Operators are beginning to realise that they don't have to pay top dollar for messaging and VAS systems.
Our environment
TruTeq is a great place to work. Not only have we reached what we believe to be the ultimate balance of creativity and commercialisation, but we also interact with our community. We give back in the form of:
- Active participation in the open-source community
- Student bursaries
- Internal training upliftment programs
- Support of our favourite charity - SACMEC (South African Centre for Missing and Exploited Children)
Memberships
We are members of a number of informal societies as well as formal associations :
- Licensing Executives Society
- WASPA
- Contributing members of various Open Source projects
The future
We have many new exciting prospects and opportunities for the future. We will always be a few steps ahead and have a roadmap with many new products along with the old favourites. There is always room for improvement and we can't wait to improve!
