Page 30: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2014)

What do you consider the greatest weakness of the brand, and why? We?re at an incredible point in our history, particularly in terms of growth. The challenge is to maintain all of the things that made you good when you were smaller, and continue to do them when you are larger. In short, describe the maturity level of the AUV market in gen- eral, as you see it. The maturity level is increas- ing, which is driving our growth. You see users going from a prototype system here and there, going into user opera-tional evaluation systems and now mov- ing into fully operational systems. And we have contracts now that are moving into full rate production. All of those things are signs of a maturing market. The market overall is becoming more comfortable with the technology as a useful, productive tool that is becoming a key part of the ?tool box.? SpeciÞ c to the product, how is your company investing today? We?ve talked about our invest- ment in people, in talent, and that?s something that we are always looking to do. In addition, we are building a new facility which is located just down the street from our present location. We are building a new 40,000 sq. ft. engineer- ing and production facility, designed and built from the ground up to be a state-of-the-art AUV, marine robotics, engineering and production facility. That?s a big investment in the company, in the technology, the future of the busi- ness and the future of the market. (Move in is planned for August 2014). When you look at the markets (both by geography and mar- ket niche) that you serve, what do you see as the brightest prospects in the year to come? We see growth in all markets. Traditionally we?ve done very well in the defense market. A large part of Hy- droid?s success has been in the defense market, both foreign and domestic. Our strongest presence is in the U.S. Navy. The academic market is strong, and we have strong ties and roots in the market, as you know we came out of Woods Hole. That gives us a lot of synergy with that community. Across the board it is growing, both foreign and domestic. Offshore oil and gas? I think we see a lot of opportu- nity in that market. Of course our par- ent company with the HUGIN vehicle has been very successful in that mar- ket. We have a joint development of the MUNIN, a combination of the REMUS 600, which we are sharing that technol-ogy with our sister-company in Horten, and they are taking it and making it in the family of the HUGIN with the same operating systems, interfaces and con- trols but in the smaller lower-logistics platform of the REMUS 600. It?s a great blending of those two technologies to come to the market with a product aimed at the oil and gas industry. If you had to pinpoint a single ?We are building a new 40,000 sq. ft. engineering and production facility, designed and built from the ground up to be a state-of-the-art AUV, marine robotics, engineer- ing and production facility.? Interview 30 MTRMarch 2014 MTR #2 (18-33).indd 30MTR #2 (18-33).indd 302/21/2014 10:34:50 AM2/21/2014 10:34:50 AM