Powamaxx started its humble beginnings in 2006, where it opened its doors on an emerging CCTV market. The company soon wrote its own software against the different software brands in the market which depended very much on specific video cards to operate. It was a leader in its own when way back then, the late director, Roy Esterhuizen brought out one of the first locally produced programs to recognise and record license plates, which was used at the Soldiers Way Taxi Rank in Durban to combat pirate taxi use at the time. From the outset, it was clear that the company wouldn’t be just another typical CCTV installation provider, which has become increasingly common these days.
The company continued to grow beyond its small capacity installations to larger corporate endeavours. With the passing of Roy in 2017, the company shifted gear with Mitch Chalom and Penelope Bam at the helm. With the principal developer of the Powamaxx software gone, it was no longer feasible to support and develop any further. Additionally, with the industry firmly developed by the likes of Hikvision and others, the set benchmark had been established and it was far easier to adopt the current hardware and apps to support. However, knowing that a niche market was needed for sustainability, the company started investing interest into the newly developed field of artificial intelligence for security purposes.
Powamaxx started a projects division dealing with high end solutions. Powamaxx Special Projects brought in the first rotating 360 degree infra-red radar, that, combined with AI could detect human activity 8 kilometres away, and vehicles up to 16 kilometres. This state-of-the-art surveillance project could identify animal from human and could predict the path of movement, which made it ideal for anti-poaching initiatives.
Simultaneously, the SANDF were looking to commercialise their kitchens and hospitality units, which led Powamaxx to develop the Meal Booking system specifically for the SANDF. The resultant solution, which was a platform of 3 technologies, namely camera surveillance, access control and meal booking software, was first implemented at ASB KZN and has presently expanded to 8 different bases throughout South Africa. The software has cut back expenditure by 30% and more where used correctly…. This equates to millions of rands every year.