ProStar is recognized by ACQ5

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Global Awards 2019

Solving a Global Problem with Precision Mapping Solutions™

• TECHNOLOGY COMPANY OF THE YEAR (GEOSPATIAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT) • GROWTH TECHNOLOGY COMPANY OF THE YEAR (GEOSPATIAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT) • GAMECHANGER OF THE YEAR, PAGE TUCKER

Solving a Global Problem with Precision Mapping Solutions™

The vast network of surface infrastructure that spans our nation – comprised of roads, highways, and bridges – is aging and in serious need of repair, replacement, and expansion. In the United States alone, approximately 4.2 million kilometers of paved roads and highways are relied on to support the nation’s daily commerce and commuting demands.

It is sufficient to say that at some point of each day we all witness and appreciate just how important this infrastructure is regardless if we are simply driving to work, going on a vacation, or delivering goods and services. What we cannot easily see is the subsurface utility infrastructure, which is another vast network that is far greater in size and equally crucial to the nation’s daily needs. Every day, the US depends on approximately 56.3 million kilometers of this subsurface network to provide the water we drink, electricity for lights, gas to heat homes, and telecom for communications.

Detriments to surface infrastructure and their improvement impacts are witnessed on a daily basis. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2017 Infrastructure report, the US infrastructure was rated a D+ overall, with dams, roads, and energy scoring some of the lowest grades. The US government estimates it will cost nearly 2 trillion dollars over the next 10 years to make the US system adequate to meet demands. As concerns arise over the safety and reliability of this extensive surface infrastructure, the capacity needs are growing steadily with no signs of slowing down. Similar to surface systems, buried infrastructure was built more than half a century ago, and is overused and deteriorating. With the subsurface corridors now over crowded with utilities, every time workers repair, replace, or expand the surface systems, they risk damaging what lies below and they do. Every minute of every working

day a critical utility is severely damaged from construction, repair, or maintenance activities.

To help reduce safety concerns and aid in building and repairing these deteriorating infrastructures, utility and engineering companies now realize the value of underground mapping systems. Underground utility mapping technology has grown over the past few years and been implemented into a variety of verticals. This technology reduces risk and injury by detecting, identifying, and mapping underground electrical wires, oil and gas pipelines, and water lines before engaging in any digging and excavation activities. Of any country in the world, North America is expected to have the largest market size and lead the adoption of underground utility mapping

AMERICAS the idea was spawned from the development of other popular mapping and navigational systems including Google Maps, Bing, and OnStar. The primary difference between ProStar’s solution and other mapping services is that other services are designed to provide rudimentary mapping functions that help users identify points of interest within distances measured in meters. Additionally, their locations are found on the earth’s surface and easily identified by line-of-sight. Whereas, ProStar’s cloud and mobile mapping solutions provide precise identification of underground gas, fiber optic, telecom, and other utilizes, and records and visualizes objects to the centimeter.

applications. This is directly due to the increasing demand for enhanced surveillance and construction activities that utilize projection mapping to build advanced maps and models.

According to Research and Markets, the global underground utility mapping market size is expected to grow from USD$842 Million in 2019 to USD$1.4 Billion By 2024.

Government initiatives for the implementation of utility mapping tools and concerns over the safety of underground utilities are the major factors driving market growth, which is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 11.0% during the forecast period.

ProStar Geocorp is Leading the Way Leading the development of utility mapping applications is the US-based company, ProStar Geocorp (ProStar).

ProStar has developed a mapping application with unprecedented geospatial intelligence, location precision, and data transparency. ProStar’s patented Precision Mapping Solution™ identifies, captures, documents, and provides visualization of data that meets Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) business practices, opening a virtual window to identify and view underground infrastructure. The ability to locate, identify, and visualize subsurface assets that have been qualified to meet SUE standards instills high levels of confidence for project personnel through the mapping and modelling process.

ProStar’s Precision Mapping Solution™ is changing business practices for industries required to identify and display precise locations of underground infrastructure. ProStar’s Precision Mapping Solution™ is gaining traction and receiving accolades across several US industries, including private firms and government agencies. These organizations recognize measurable increases in their productivity and decreases in their liabilities.

ProStar’s solution has proven that precise, reliable data lessens adverse impacts on the public, the environment, and the workers during construction, maintenance, and replacement of surface and subsurface infrastructure.

A Game Changing Idea According to the company’s founder and CEO, Page Tucker,

A Recent Incident The need for reliable data is real. On September 13, 2018, in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts, excessive pressure in natural gas lines caused a series of individual explosions and fires, occurring in approximately 40 homes. Additional reports of multiple explosions and fires in the proximate towns of Lawrence, Andover, and North transpired in a short period. Emergency crews responded to approximately 80 fires with an estimated 18 fires burning at one time. Although schools, senior centers, and hotels offered shelter for evacuates, those leaving by vehicle caused major gridlock.

Ultimately, one person was killed, and 30,000 were forced to leave their homes.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, customers in the accident area received gas from a lowpressure distribution network fed from a main high-pressure pipeline through regulators controlled by sensors. At the time of the accident, workers were replacing some of the low-pressure piping; however, company procedure failed to include the transfer of a regulator pressure sensor from the antiquated pipeline to the new. As a result, when the old pipe depressurized, the regulator sensed zero pressure on the low-pressure side and opened completely, feeding the full pressure of the main pipeline into the local distribution network. Within a few short moments, a buildup of natural gas caused explosions and fires in houses across the Merrimack Valley.

This example is just one from a long list of accidents and damages caused by insufficient data or not having access to information in the field, where it is needed most. Tucker says, “Workers currently do not have easy and timely access to information on the nature, condition, and precise location of buried assets. Compounding the problem is that often information of utilities are either incomplete, unreliable or simply never existed.”

ProStar’s Solution to the Problem ProStar’s solution provides the ability to map and manage assets for their entire lifecycle, which helps predict and avoid disasters like the one in the Merrimack Valley. The solution is designed to capture, record, and provide visualization of precise locations of the subsurface infrastructure anywhere in the world. Thereby improving the entire management process of infrastructure assets from initial planning and design to operations and maintenance. According to Jim Anspach, ASCE Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute Founding Governor, “By using ProStar’s technology to improve the methods for the collection, storage, and visualization of infrastructure, industries would be able to qualify

Safe and Secure The ProStar solution is the gold standard of data security.

ProStar completes extensive data security audits to continually receive and uphold SOC 2 compliance. SOC 2 compliance, developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), is a critical auditing procedure that ensures service providers securely manage data to protect the interests of organizations and the privacy of clients.

Partnering with Microsoft To provide global scalability of its operations, ProStar is partnered with Microsoft and hosts its solution on Azure.

Tucker claims, “We selected Azure because it powers over 80% of the Fortune 500 firms and provides a low cost, secure platform that will deliver our solution to anyone, anywhere in the world.” Microsoft completed a case study on ProStar, which included the company as part of its digital transformation: Microsoft Case Study. the data better and make more informed business decisions, ultimately making the work site safer and more productive.”

Having accurate utility data reduces risks to those workers required to build, maintain, and repair them and reduces risk to the public and the environment.”

- Jim Anspach, Founding Governor, ASCE Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute The Geospatial Industry is Poised for Disruption Vasa Dasan, ProStar Geocorp COO, joined the group this year because he was impressed by the team and product innovation. Dasan stated, “I was impressed with the opportunity ProStar provided me to help disrupt an industry that is entrenched in old and legacy business practices similar to what Uber did to transform the taxi industry and what Airbnb has done to disrupt the old model of hotel services. It could easily be another perfect example of the inventor’s dilemma where new technology can cause great businesses to fail and all because of a simple mobile app with a solution that addresses a need and that is built around location services.”

Tucker sees ProStar as being the de facto solution for any industry that would benefit from precision mapping, and the company has already started to expand into several serviceable markets. ProStar has significant clients in oil and gas, construction, and the US Department of Transportation. Tucker stated, “We believe our solution will have a global impact as the management and improvement of infrastructure. Which is now a serious concern for global stakeholders.” The company has also established strategic partnerships with major distribution channels that include hardware manufacturers of mobile devices and GPS receivers.

Further Developments Tucker also shared that the company is now performing research and development in the areas of machine learning, 3D technologies, and augmented reality. According to Tucker, “Technologies will continue to evolve at a torrential pace, significantly improving the methods and sources of information that influence virtually every decision of our personal and professional lives -- even location services.”

ProStar Public Trading ProStar is expanding and in the process of acquiring capital to ramp up operations. The company will become publicly traded and anticipates that it will be trading on the TSX Venture Exchange by the 4th quarter of 2019. According to Tucker, the company will use the capital raised to accelerate growth by bringing on additional resources, increasing R&D, and expanding sales and marketing efforts throughout the US, Canada, and Europe.

The ProStar Leadership Team With Tucker’s extensive background in early-stage startups, he has assembled an impressive group of technologists and executive management. Meet the ProStar executive team: Vasa Dasan, Chief Operations Officer: A veteran of driving technical strategy and execution in cloud computing, Dasan recently joined ProStar from CU Boulder where he served

AMERICAS as head of software development. He previously served as the VP of Engineering at Symplified, a single sign-on startup acquired by RSA a division of EMC-DELL. Before Symplified, Dasan was the first engineering hire at Wayin, a mobile and web engagement platform founded by Scott McNealy.

As CTO, he built and led the team that developed Wayin’s services for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Dasan spent more than 15 years of his career at Sun Microsystems where he served as Chief Technologist for the company’s Cloud Computing Practice and spent more than a decade as Distinguished Engineer and CTO for Sun’s $5.1 billion SunService division.

Peter Forster, Chief Technology Officer: Peter Forster brings over twenty-five years of application software development, design, and implementation experience to ProStar as the Chief Technology Officer. Forster was formerly Senior Manager at Deloitte and brings with him expertise in SaaS application builds, DevOps, and Agile methodology.

He is a skilled leader that has engaged with several Fortune 500 organizations to architect and deliver enterprise-level solutions. Forster provides expertise in cloud services, cloud service architecture, and a strong background in business process enabling technologies.

Carl Lashua, VP of Systems Administration: Carl Lashua has considerable experience building and leading information technology, operations, and program management teams. Before joining ProStar, Lashua was with HSBC, one of the world’s leading global financial services companies. He held various executive-level positions in both North America and Europe, including Program Director Global Change Delivery, Head of Software Delivery Europe, CIO Europe, and CIO Canada. Lashua has successfully led teams providing business consulting, software engineering, enterprise technology deployment, change management, and support services.

Kevin Koch, Senior Director of Mobile Solutions: Kevin Koch has been involved in software development for over 15 years with experience in mobile application development.

Prior to joining ProStar, Koch was Senior Director of Technology for Thomson Reuters where he managed a large business unit responsible for all aspects of software development, web development, quality assurance, technical

Page Tucker, Founder and CEO of ProStar Geocorp

writing, project management, and IT. While at Thomson Reuters, he managed and rapidly scaled the group and was responsible for delivering innovative mobile, desktop, and web-based applications. Under Koch’s leadership, the group delivered their fully-featured flagship product ‘Case Notebook’ from inception to a stable, mature product.

ProStar Accolades ProStar has received impressive recognition over the past few years. In 2016, Colorado Technology Association named Tucker Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2017, ProStar was named a winner of Colorado Companies to Watch. ACQ5 is pleased to honor ProStar Geocorp with the following awards: 2019 Technology Company of the Year, 2019 Growth Technology Company of the Year, and 2019 Gamechanger of the Year.

For more information about ProStar visit www.prostarcorp.com.