About KIWACAN

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KIWACAN's History

In 2001 located in Christchurch New Zealand a hobby business known as SLAVE Lighting was started by Michael Pearce after developing a portable stage lighting controller and PC application to run them. Also started working on LED based luminary products, but the technology was not quite there at that time. Larger competition entered the New Zealand market with very low cost portable dimmer controllers in 2002 and the SLAVE Lighting products were no longer viable to sell, even though it was a superior product.

From 2002 to 2004 Michael did the occasional consulting work for Micro-controller based designs for companies and people that contacted him. This was done after hours as Michael was working full time as a Hardware and Software Engineer at the local University developing automation equipment for the Labs.

In October 2004 a Christchurch company wanted regular services from Michael.

In November 2004 Michael registered as a Microchip Certified Design Consultant.

In early 2005 because of the regular and growing work from local companies Michael decided to register the business as a Sole Trader for tax purposes. After much discussion with his family the name KIWACAN was decided upon.

KIWACAN is a combination of Kiwi And American since Michael was a Kiwi (New Zealander) and his then wife was an American.

Through 2005 the work continued to grow, but not enough to sustain a full time position. But at the same time Michaels full time job was getting quieter due to budget cuts and changes in the way budgets had to be spent.

Middle of 2005 a new start up company contacted Michael to discuss the possibility of a 2 year design contract for a minimum of 20 hours per week. After a couple of months of discussion and careful consideration Michael accepted the contract, quit his job and started Kiwacan full time. The combination of the 2 year contract and the growing amount of extra work was more than enough to keep things running.

Early 2006 KIWACAN was changed to a partnership and became GST registered. Also KIWACAN had achieved Silver status as a Microchip Design Partner.

Mid 2006 a range of prototyping boards had been developed for in-house use to be able to rapidly develop prototypes for customers. These prototyping boards were released for sale to the public through KIWACAN's website and a local Electronics supplier. The boards rapidly became popular with hobbyists, schools and technology companies through New Zealand and Australia.

By the end of 2006 KIWACAN was growing and subcontractors were employed to help with design work during the busy times and for the prototyping and low volume production builds that were being done.

Early 2007 KIWACAN achieved Gold status as a Microchip Design Partner. Also KIWACAN moved out of the home office and into a commercial space on the edge of the central city in Christchurch New Zealand. This allowed for larger stock area for components and products, a small production line and room for the subcontractors to work on site. An assembly specialist was employed full time, and a number of temp workers were used to keep up with the increasing volume of prototype and low volume assembly.

Design on a number of KIWACAN specific products was started. This included revisiting the LED Lighting designs from SLAVELighting, as well as domestic LED Lighting for solar powered houses. Also development of a QVGA LCD Graphics controller was started which has now become EZTFT. Other ideas had also been investigate and may be revisited in the future.

Steps toward gaining funding for the purchase of an automated SMT production line had started. Several investors had been approached and some showed interest but had not followed through as the New Zealand economy had started a slide. One investor did continue to show interest but eventually pulled out at the end of the year.

End of 2007 KIWACAN designed and built the first breakout board in the world for the Microchip PIC32 Started kit. It was released 2 weeks after Microchip announced the PIC32. Also discussion of closing KIWACAN in New Zealand and to move to the USA with the possibility of re-opening KIWACAN on a part time basis had begun between the business partners.

Beginning of 2008 KIWACAN was one of the first companies world wide to achieve Platinum status in the Microchip Design Partner program.

March 2008 KIWACAN closed in New Zealand and moved to the U.S.A. With the hope of re-opening in the USA by mid 2008. Although some contract work was still being done on occasion for KIWACAN's larger New Zealand customers it was not enough to officially restart at that stage.

During 2008 and 2009 Due to new job, Economy crash and personal matters, no time was spent looking into restarting Kiwacan.

2010 was a year of change. First a move to Chandler Arizona and a new job. Also spent time considering if I should restart the buisness, and soon discovered it was not worth it.

2011 Decided to change the KIWACAN website and brand to just be my own personal projects.

The three projects I am working on are:

Multi color LED based Theatrical and Architectural lighting. These will be very different to anything currently on the market as far as a unique color mix and control.

Extreme sport electronics, mostly for skydiving and body position and force data logging.

Easy to use self contained Graphics Controller and Modules.
The LED lighting is the main concentration as the moment and all my spare time is spent working on this, and hopefully by June the first prototypes will be demonstrated. Information and videos will be posted as soon as the prototypes are up and running.

You are welcome to Like KIWACAN on Facebook for project updates, beta testing info and videos will be posted as time progresses.