In the late 1990s four friends were working for QED Software in Wellington when a management buyout triggered some changes. You could say it was a catalyst. The new management was Auckland based, and the manager of the Wellington branch, Mike O’Connor, was made redundant. As the Wellington branch disintegrated, Mike, along with colleagues Don Christie, Godfrey Fernandez, and Gavin Thompson, wondered what to do next.
None of them had run a business before, but “we did think we could give it a go,” says Mike. And, they did, founding Catalyst IT in 1997, along with another friend, Andrew McMillan.
Catalyst hooks into the worlds first CBD fibre optic loop
Before founding Catalyst, Don and Gavin were trying to encourage their employer to use the Internet, but in those days many were skeptical. In 1995 Bill Gates said the Internet was a flash in the pan and wouldn’t amount to anything, and their bosses felt the same.
However, as Catalyst was starting, a man at Wellington City Council named Richard Naylor had just put up the world’s first CBD fibre optic loop(external link). Catalyst directors saw the future potential and paid around $10,000 to hook into it. “The ability to connect to information anywhere in the world was amazing. It was so open,” Don says. “Nobody controlled it. You could basically have a telephone line and a server, and set yourself up as an ISP, which really broke down a lot of barriers to entry. It really did explode, and the open source movement exploded too.”
The open source value alignment
Andrew was key in promoting open source, encouraging the other directors to explore it too. Their values led them to open source software, and in turn, open source shaped the values of Catalyst. “We looked at the situation our customers were in, and saw them being taken advantage of with contracts for proprietary software, finding themselves trapped into contracts,” says Gavin. Open source software started to flourish in the early days of the Internet. And, Catalyst was aligned with the ethos of freedom and innovation from the beginning. “We always had a philosophy of having fun and making sure clients' needs came first. We thought, ‘let’s explore new technologies, and be the best we can possibly be',” says Godfrey.
Catalyst directors standing in a mock cage at a zoo
L to R: Paul Waite, Srdjan Jankovic, Godfrey Fernandez, Gavin Thompson, Don Christie, Mike O'Connor, Andrew McMillan
The founding directors started Catalyst during the phase of their lives when they were also starting families. They went from comfortable salaries to the unknown, with mortgages and children. “It was an adventure, and it was scary at times,” says Godfrey. Sometimes they didn’t have enough to pay themselves: they made sure their staff were paid, and relied on their partners in the early days. “One of the things that kept us humble was scratching around for a couple of years, not sure if it would work,” says Mike.
Catalyst’s early open source projects
Many organisations were concerned about system failure as the new century rolled in, which gave Catalyst a boost in business. New contracts with Nelson Bay Meats and Plumbing World enabled Catalyst to continue and enabled them to employ their first staff member, Alan McNatty.
Systems for Telecom
Alan was also heavily involved with Telecom in the early days - back when you couldn’t even text between networks. Catalyst developed systems for Telecom mobile, and launched a project at the rugby Sevens where you could send a text and it would appear on the big screen.
We also developed a ringtone system for Telecom. It seems strange now that we used to buy ringtones, but back then Telecom was earning a million dollars a month through ringtone sales.
Electoral Commission
Another significant early client was the Electoral Commission. The founders’ personal involvement with the General Elections began before Catalyst and date back to the late 1980s. Catalyst's first election was in 1999 when Paul Waite rewrote the Election Results System into a GUI application after it was a strictly character based application. “We’ve never had an election where our systems have let us down,” says Godfrey. “It’s really important to me, because it’s an important democratic system, and if anything failed it would have been a major setback for us.” The Electoral Commission is one of the few projects where each director has had some involvement over the years. It’s also one of many projects that has remained with Catalyst for a long time. “We don’t lose many customers, which is good,” says Gavin. “Our customers tend to be pretty loyal.”
Contributing globally
“A lot of the most successful projects in the world are open source” says Gavin. Some international open source projects, like Moodle, Mahara, Koha, and Tōtara, were created by current or former Catalyst staff members. And, Catalyst continues to play a significant role in their development, as well as supporting clients in using them for their eLearning and library management needs.
Sharing open source with others
Catalyst Open Source Academy and training initiatives
One of the ways Catalyst advocates for the use of open source is with the Open Source Academy - a two week summer holiday programme. Here, secondary school students learn about open source technologies, and work on real projects. The Academy was founded by Catalyst and has been running for many years now. Plus, a number of students have since been given full time permanent jobs at Catalyst, with others participating in paid part time or holiday work. “Our Open Source Academy has seen over 150 people come through since 2011,” says Ian Beardslee, Training Manager. “At Catalyst, we have been lucky enough to see some of those people end up as staff, and making a difference in other parts of the tech sector.”
Catalyst also runs a variety of professional development training courses throughout the year, on topics such as JavaScript, web accessibility, Python, and Agile fundamentals.
New Zealand Open Source Awards
Another significant way Catalyst promotes the use of open source technologies is with the New Zealand Open Source Awards. The Open Source Awards is a biennial event, first held in 2007. It recognises and celebrates the outstanding work with free open source software, across artistic, scientific, and social sectors. The awards aim to raise awareness about the benefits and competitive edge open source software enables.
Catalyst has become an international company
Initially, the founders debated whether they should employ a maximum of 12 or 30 people. But, Catalyst has grown from the five founders in Wellington in 1997, to what is now an international company with a hundreds of staff. Some have been with Catalyst for decades. “Without any real strategy of growth we’ve managed to align ourselves with good people,” says Mike. “Good staff, who are interested and committed to the open source ethos and the freedoms and opportunities it gives.”
“The cool thing for me is that we’re still good friends 25 years on,” says Mike. “It’s been laid-back, mostly stress-free. We managed to get through the early times when we were skint, with the family pressures. I’m still enjoying it, still a little bit amazed.”
“We’ve been pretty successful in being advocates for open source software, one of our founding ideals,” says Gavin. “One of the things we wanted to do was prove you could run a business with open source software. Everyone told us we were crazy, but the landscape has changed massively, and we’ve been proven right which is satisfying.”
These days, the Catalyst headquarters are at Catalyst House on Willis Street in the Wellington CBD. Our other offices are in Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada.
“We don’t consider ourselves anything special, and what made the difference was open source,” says Don. “People coming to work for us were able to be part of and contribute to a global community; that’s an important part of bringing good people into the team.”