The letter Z may be much more than just the last letter in the alphabet.

Z Systems Press Release

If these two young entrepreneurs get their wish, the letter Z will be much more than just the final letter in the alphabet. It will represent a new approach to engineering software development.

Craig Muller and Mark Kulchycki are key members of a fledgling new company in Winnipeg, Canada called Z Systems Inc. Over the past two years the company has specialized in engineering software consulting for other High-Tech companies. The main focus has been the development of custom software modules. We help high-tech software makers build better software", said Muller, 39. It was clear that the consulting side of the work was limited in its growth potential. We noticed that most software development spent more time to visualize the results, than to create the results. We felt strongly that there needed to be a new approach to this, which focused on portable and reusable tools. These two factors are often overlooked because development schedules are tight and they are very time consuming".

A little over a year ago, the company set out to develop a set of visualization tools targeted to solve this problem. It was not easy to break away from traditional methods, and the work progressed very slowly at first. Often the work was put on hold to complete consulting contracts.

Muller is not originally a software developer, but comes from an Electrical Engineering background. About ten years ago he began to dabble in programming and discovered that he had a knack for the problem solving in software. I was attracted to the purity of the work" said Muller. All I needed was a computer and some tools and I could build whatever I wanted."

Kulchycki is a recent graduate from Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba. He is bullish on the technology and the future. My goal was to be part of a small company with an exciting product. I wanted to feel that my contribution really made a difference.

In the early part of this year the software technology was finally beginning to take shape. Money is always a tricky balancing act, especially when the product is only an idea. Support from the federal government on a related IRAP project was extremely important and laid the groundwork for the software today. The software was demonstrated to several high tech engineering firms in the province with great success. The software was well received by Alpha Power Technologies Inc. (A division of Vansco Ltd.). It was important for Z Systems to integrate their technology in commercial software.

When we began the integration work, I realized how powerful this approach really was." Muller said. The flexibility of the resulting product was better than anything I had seen before. We are able to deliver a much better and more reliable product, with much less complexity."

Z Systems has experienced 200 per cent growth in the project work in the last six months. Muller: I dont know for sure where this technology is going to take us in the future, but I am sure it is going to be good."