In this vein, CoastalO was among the first software manufacturers in the industry to provide a computer bulletin board service.

While other software providers were reluctant to make changes to programs and deal directly with clients, HYPACK made helping customers a top priority. HYPACK for Windows quickly gained industry approval for its flexibility and easy user interface.Īnother facet to the company’s success was its customer service. Even while others believed Windows would not allow for accurate time-tagging of survey data, CoastalO was proving them wrong. In 1992, CoastalO was among the first to create a Windows-based hydrographic survey package. The improving price and efficiency of personal computers quickly made them preferential to the older survey systems, and interface cards permitted surveyors to use a wide variety of equipment. The key to his firm’s success was the original decision to support the PC platform as the data collection and processing platform. The fledgling business has now grown from a one-person operation to a company with over 20 employees that sells two to three HYPACK packages every business day. The next year, sales rose to 14 packages. Conference attendees only showed minor interest in the product. Unfortunately, Coastal Oceanographics’ (CoastalO) stand was located directly across from industry leader Comstar. HYPACK’s debut came at the Oceans 87 IEEE/OES and Marine Technology Society conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thus, HYPACK (Hydrographic Package) was offered for sale to the surveying world. At the time, most hydrographic survey systems required expensive hardware, so Sanders decided to assemble his own group of programs and offer it for sale. By 1987, he and a few colleagues had developed an entire suite of software. His first ‘portable’ computer was a 40 pound, Columbia Data Systems machine with 640 kilobytes of RAM, a 10 megabyte hard drive, and a yellow monochrome monitor. The purpose of the company was to provide hydrographic consulting for companies with large hydrographic survey contracts.Īs a part of his consulting practice, Sanders wrote Fortran-based programs to manually enter raw hydrographic data to produce smooth sheets. Naval Oceanographic Office as a field hydrographer and completing a graduate business degree, Pat Sanders founded ’Coastal Oceanographics’.

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