Small But Mighty
Visions of products and services to be delivered
to consumers in America and worldwide via the touted digital "information
superhighway" of the future are now driving the telecommunications
and cable TV industry mega-deals of today. Entertainment mogul Barry Diller
of QVC and his big telecommunications partners are locked in a takeover
battle with Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom International, and his equally
powerful telecommunications partners for Paramount Communications, last
of the major independent entertainment and publishing conglomerates. The
Prize, of course, is Paramount's vast film and television library -- a ready
source of entertainment programming which can be transmitted by those who
control these new technologies to consumers everywhere.
As billions are being spent on converging
computer communications and media technologies by the big players, many
smaller companies wait in the wings, reluctant to move until they are sure
which way the technology winds will blow. Not so with Magellan Geographix,
a fast growing digital cartography company located in Santa Barbara, California.
In three short years, the company has developed and built one of the most
comprehensive worldwide electronic map data bases in existence. Serving
customers worldwide, the company produces on demand (and in any format,
including modem, diskette, hardcopy, and color separations), state of the
art cartography from simple locator maps to custom designed graphically
exact maps, complete with demographic, historical, and other specialized
data.
Magellan is successful because it matches
its understanding of communications and graphics technology with a strong
commitment to customer service. With its staff of geographers, cartographers,
computer specialists, graphic artists and various sourcing experts, the
company can deliver a customized map of any designated area to a customer
anywhere in the world. Take, for example, Magellan's several hundred newspaper
clients which it services through the Los Angeles Times News Syndicate.
It can supply to a customer, in minutes, a timely, scalable base map geared
to current or special events, complete with roads, railways, boundaries,
ports and airports. Because each map comprises layers of cartographic information
which can be individually edited, a user can quickly select, delete, or
create mapping data from a custom palette as news needs dictate.
From highly refined maps of Mogudishu
that it has supplied to the U.S. government to specialty maps of the Vatican,
Magellan's ability to offer an impressive array of specialized mapping services
to such a wide and varied customer base around the world, definitely belies
its size. "Sure, we're going to grow," says CEO Doug Crawford,
". . . but because the applications for our business are enormous,
we want to be careful to grow rationally. We're going to choose areas where
we can deliver our high standard of quality. For us, customer service is
the key."
In addition to arrangements now in the
works to offer its products through the major online data base services,
Magellan is developing a subscription capability to allow future customers
independent access to a full range of services through its own powerful
data base. Clients will be able to download custom map files via a special
"digital atlas," and get upgrades on a regular basis. Future plans
include educational, travel, and home use "on demand" and interactive
CD products and services. These will be available when the Baby Bells complete
their planned $25 to $50 billion investment in fiberoptic telecommunications
networks by the mid to late nineties. When you think about it, you don't
have to be big like Paramount Communications to be happy about the coming
benefits of the "information superhighway." In fact, it's not
at all bad to be small but mighty, especially when you're Magellan Geographix.