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Growing Kaimuki A Kaimuki high-tech manufacturing company with 240 employees has big plans for expansion on Oahu, and it has a major player pushing for its rapid growth: the state government.
tech firm gets state
help in finding
new home
The maker of network testing
equipment systems plans to hire
up to 300 more workers
in the next 2-3 yearsBy Tim Ruel
Star-BulletinAdtech Inc., which builds systems that test the network equipment of such companies as Sprint Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp., has seen revenues double in the past 18 months, President Tareq Hoque said yesterday, declining to give specific figures.
Adtech, a division of a British company, has hired about 175 people since May 1997, and is planning to hire 200 to 300 more in the next two to three years, Hoque said.
Adtech has a reputation for hiring engineers from the University of Hawaii, and Hoque estimates 70 percent of the staff has been trained locally.
The problem is that Adtech operates on roughly 50,000 square feet in four buildings off Waialae Avenue, and there is not enough room to double the staff, Hoque said. The company needs a new home.The main requirement is a place within a few miles of UH-Manoa, with at least 150,000 square feet, Hoque said.
Adtech has already hired consultants to form plans. "It's a pretty involved process to plan out a new facility," Hoque said.
Adtech, however, is already getting some welcome help from Gov. Ben Cayetano.
Earlier this year, at a private breakfast at Washington Place, company officials told Cayetano they were considering moving operations outside Hawaii, according to Joe Blanco, Cayetano's executive assistant and technology adviser, who attended the meeting. "Virginia was wooing them big time," Blanco said.
Cayetano, not wanting Adtech to leave, had Blanco show Adtech's officials a piece of state land in Kakaako that would be available for leasing, Blanco said. The spot -- 4.82 acres of state land close to Kewalo Basin, between Ala Moana and Kakaako Waterfront Park -- is assessed at $12.47 million and is zoned for commercial use.
To encourage a deal, Cayetano offered a reduced ground rent so long as the company expanded its public-private partnerships with UH, Blanco said.
Hoque noted yesterday that Adtech already runs internships and mentoring for UH students, and provides grants for professors and research. The company plans to continue those programs, which are not connected to any dealings with the state, he said.
After receiving a follow-up proposal from Adtech recently, describing what kind of office it needed, Blanco said he would ask Cayetano to offer Adtech a choice of two locations, the spot in Kakaako, and another at Piers 5 and 6 on Honolulu Harbor, near the Hawaii Maritime Center.
Blanco did not know what the terms of the deal could be, but said the state should reach an agreement in principle with Adtech within 30 days. "They need to get it right away," Blanco said. After that, Adtech could develop the area on its own, he said.
Adtech, however, has the final say on where the company would move, and is exploring several Oahu options, including the state's, Hoque said. He stressed that the company is still working on its plans.
The president of another local high-tech company said he was pleased Cayetano is trying to help Adtech.
"(Adtech has) a track record of developing the high-tech industry here," said Mark Wong, president of Commercial Data Systems Inc., a downtown company that sells networking equipment to local businesses, including Adtech.
Wong noted that the state government had been getting a reputation of wooing outside technology companies, while not helping local firms. The state's proposal for Adtech would change that image, he said.
Kathryn Weldon and husband Edward Weldon, a former UH electrical engineering professor, founded Adtech in Honolulu in 1967. After going through several locations, the company landed in Kaimuki in 1994. In 1997, British-based Bowthorpe Plc (now called Spirent Plc) bought Adtech for a reported $51 million.
If Adtech picks the Kakaako location, it could be the beginning of another high-tech park, Blanco said. Several smaller unidentified local companies have shown interest in joining such a big anchor tenant, he said.
Oahu has high-tech parks in Manoa, Mililani and Kapolei.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority, a state agency that oversees Kakaako, has kicked around the idea for a high-tech park for years, said Teney Takahashi, HCDA's director of planning and development.
Wong's company, Commercial Data Systems, started out in Kakaako in 1981. "I think Kakaako is a great place for high tech," Wong said.
Hoque (pronounced "Hock") said private developers have already shown much interest in working with Adtech's proposal. He praised the state for helping his company out. "It seems pretty genuine. It does seem like a genuine effort."