Ross Brown

Ross' formal qualifications in Mathematics and Computer Science provided an entry into the computing industry in Dunedin where he was involved in complex software development projects. These projects included developing software for natural language translation (between the English, French and German languages); film production; and biological measurement for medical research with AD Instruments.

He moved to the Aoraki Corporation in Christchurch in 1991 where his positions included product development manager, Cardinal Technologies, and technology consultant, Cardinal Network. Aoraki Corporation now trades exclusively under the JADE brand. His technical specialisation evolved to become the architectural design and development of Internet based software solutions. His experience in this area includes the prototype of the ASB Bank Fastnet Internet banking system.

Ross formed Turing Solutions in 1997 and has established technology partnerships with JADE and Xtra, business partnerships with Computerland and Cardinal and solution partnerships with Turing Solutions' clients. With his business partner, Tim Brown, Ross co-founded Turing Solutions, NZ.Com Limited in 1999 and Unify Group in 2000.

Ross and Tim sold Turing Solutions to Computerland New Zealand in June 2000. In 2001, they shifted their focus to Unify Group and NZ.com. The next five years became dominated by working for the Medical Council of New Zealand and related software product developments with Unify Group.

In 2005, the redevelopment of the New Zealand on the Web business (NZ.com) started. Ross is an owner and executive director of this business. The redevelopment involved the creation of an information management system that can present information at a local, regional and national level; development of regional web sites such as Rotorua.nz.com, and Christchurch.nz.com; and the building of a sales team to sell advertising.

Today, NZ.com’s websites typically rank on the first page of a Google search for the city or town name and NZ.com is one of the top five tourism websites in New Zealand with around 100,000 unique visitors a month. NZ.com visitors book accommodation, activities, rental cars, and campervans through NZ.com.

NZ.com maintains relationships with hotel chains, individual accommodation and activity providers and with tourism business aggregators such as Hotel Club, Viator and BookIT. NZ.com also maintains relationships with Internet Advertising companies and is the largest display advertiser for Google Ads in New Zealand.

On the technology side, NZ.com is increasingly using AJAX and has integrated Google Satellite Maps, Street View, and Google’s New Zealand News into regional websites over the last year.

In addition to running NZ.com, Ross continues to undertake some consulting work - typically providing high level advice to other businesses where software development is either the business or a critical factor in the business.