Xenacom's History

Xena, the Warrior Princess, was the inspiration behind the Xenacom name when the founders, Heather McEwen and brother Gavin, were having a glass of wine and trying to find a name for their fledging software company.

That was back in 1997 when the two siblings joined forces to develop software for the global agricultural market and provide consultancy services in New Zealand. 

Xenacom's Oracle experience was drawn on by Fonterra for a number of years with staff levels reaching 35 during the height of the development projects with Fonterra.

A sister company, Xen-AGRI Developments was formed in 2001 to market one of the initial products developed for agri-business,  Xen-AGRI.  Xen-AGRI was sold to customers in Australia, the US, Europe and Asia.  Xen-AGRI has since been upgraded to the MobileFrame-based XenTrial application.

Xenacom have always had an appreciation of the importance of mobile communication and while in the USA in 2006, CEO Heather McEwen, discovered the MobileFrame product and subsequently became a worldwide distributor for this remarkable software development tool. 

Awards

In 2003, Xenacom was awarded a New Zealand Enterpise Award to develop a database management system for beekeepers.  This award resulted in the Xen-APIARY product being developed and marketed.  Xen-APIARY has now been superceded by the MobileFrame-based XenBee.

In 2004, Xenacom was ranked 13th in the Deloitte New Zealand Fast 50 and 98th in the Asia Pacific Technology Fast 50.

Also in 2004, Xenacom was chosen to become part of the Silicon Valley Beachhead programme run by NZTE.  This resulted in the opening of a US based Xenacom office in Des Moines, Iowa. 

In 2005, Xenacom won the Best Going Global Award and also the Supreme Award at the Icehouse Annual Awards.

Location

Xenacom started out in small offices in Cambridge but as the company staff numbers grew, they became one of the first tenants at the Waikato Innovation Park at Ruakura in 2005.
In 2007 Xenacom had the opportunity to lease their own building back in Cambridge and set up the Xenacom Business Centre.