The Mainline Powertrack system continues to be recognized as a ‘must have’ item when it comes to flexible access to power and 21st century technology. The latest in an ever growing number of signature projects for Mainline power track is its installation as part of the fit-out for the new Masters Home Improvement chain of stores in Australia.

Masters Home Improvement is the biggest and one of the most exciting things to happen in home improvement in Australia in decades. Masters Home Improvement is operated by a joint venture between Woolworths and the giant US hardware chain Lowe's and is expected to considerably shake up this ever growing industry sector.

Masters Home Improvement outlets pride themselves on stores that are more brightly lit, more colourful and with more customer-friendly store displays. There are buzzers scattered around each store which when pressed, will send a nearby staff member to that location to help out a customer. Masters intends on raising the bar when it comes to service and there are experts in every department and over 10,000 hours of staff training in every store.
Master Home Improvement stores will offer a huge range of categories and departments stocked full with over 35,000 of the best quality products at the best prices - including big name brands under one big roof. Mainline is extremely pleased to be associated with such a leading edge retailer and when you check out areas in Masters, such as their lamp and lighting displays, you will see the versatile Mainline power track system in action.

We are very pleased to announce that the exclusive distribution rights for Mainline in Australia and New Zealand have been granted to HPM Legrand.

HPM Legrand is a leader in products and systems for electrical installations and information networks in Australia and New Zealand.
The company was formed in 2007 when Legrand purchased HPM, an icon of the Australasian electrical industry.
Part of the global Legrand network, which has a presence in more than 70 countries and a global workforce of more than 35,000 people, HPM Legrand manufactures and distributes innovative products under 5 premium brands: HPM, Legrand, BTicino, Cablofil and Nelson.

With a head office in Sydney, Australia, HPM Legrand distributes products through more than 5000 electrical wholesalers and hardware retailers across Australia and New Zealand.

HPM Legrand is the perfect strategic partner for us and their reputation and market reach will ensure a wide embrace of the innovative Mainline power track system across the region.

The flexibility and versatility of the Mainline power track system is being proven in many different environments.

Mainline was even installed as part of a comprehensive refurbishment of a beautiful 70' yacht in Sydney. In this instance the 'Mainline Blade' was used to provide an elegant surface mounted solution housed in sleek aluminium. The final result was stylish and modern, and at the same time, completely at home in this stately yacht.

We often hear that China will become the biggest economy in the world and that Australia is in the fortunate position of not only being conveniently located geographically, but also of supplying a great deal of the resources required to fuel the ascendency of the Chinese economy.

It is worth taking a minute to absorb this simple fact: by the year 2020, there will be 93 cities in China bigger than Sydney.

Consider the city of Chongqing...a city that many Westerners would not have heard of, but which was recently noted by Forbes Magazine as “one of Top 15 best new cities for business in the world by FORTUNE magazine”

Chongqing is:

• The largest city in China
• The fastest growing city
• The only ‘first tier’ city in the Midwest
• The economic and financial centre of the West
• Considered as having the most efficient provincial government

The designated “business district” of Chongqing is 8.24 square kilometres...which, to put into perspective, is twice the size of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin combined! The city’s population of 32 million is 40% more than the entire population of Australia.

GDP growth for the city and immediate Liangjiang New Area area is currently 17.1%, and is forecast to grow to US$100 billion by 2020 (i.e. 700% growth between 2010 and 2020).

To say we haven’t seen the potential for China yet is the understatement of the century. Hold on tight, it’s going to be a wild ride!

• A brand is not a logo.
• A brand is not a product or service.
• A brand is the emotional appearance of the company.

Therefore, the ‘brand’ of the Mainline power track system is all about removing complexity (and by default creating simplicity), improving the everyday way we access power for our devices in our home and business lives. The ‘brand’ is not simply a stylised “M” or the word “Mainline”....but a message that reaches beyond the logo. We are already seeing instances of people using the word Mainline as a verb or an adjective. A visitor to the Mainline stand at the recent Ideal Home Show in Earls Court, London, exclaimed, “I love this stuff...I’ve just Mainlined my whole house!”

As Mainline power track moves into more and more countries (we now have our web site live in Spanish, which will soon be followed by Portuguese and French versions)  we also need to ask ourselves how the word “Mainline” resonates with non-English language and cultures. In particular, how will we adapt it to languages which do not use Latin lettering? What will Mainline mean to readers of Greek, Arabic or Chinese?

The challenge will be to create a globally recognised “pattern” that immediately conjures images of ‘de-cluttering’, our lives – even to the point of lowering our stress levels (and wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing!). So, regardless of where we live, let’s envisage a better place by ‘Mainlining” our lifestyles.

Why is that people are often reluctant to embrace new ideas and new technology? For example, Mainline power track is gaining traction (no pun intended) across many world markets, but we are finding that some countries are earlier adopters than others. And once in a country, some sectors see the benefits before others...and then drilling down further – right to the installer level – some electricians get it, while others don’t.

A great example is an electrician in the UK, who very quickly realised that he could install Mainline far more quickly than the traditional hard-wired system – without compromising on what he charged for his service. The extra time can be used to generate additional income or simply to increase his leisure time.

We can then take that a step further. The same electrician is now a strong advocate of Mainline and actively promotes it. There is often the opportunity to increase the scope of the installation once the customer fully understands the benefits.
This then leads to other referrals and the electrician suddenly finds himself with a unique selling proposition (USP) that generates even more business in a self-fulfilling cycle.

It’s easy to just say, “I’m used to this and don’t want to change”, but I’m glad my doctor doesn’t have the same attitude. Change is inevitable and the pace of change is increasing more quickly than it ever has in the past. It’s important to try and keep up with the constant change that is occurring in every aspect of your business and your life itself.

Mainline appeared at the Ideal Home Show London recently! 16 days, 600 Exhibitors, 300,000 visitors!

Not only did we engage with thousands of like minded visitors, we discovered a common thread running between them. Their power sockets are rarely in the right place! It was great meeting so many friendly people who were, without exception, overwhelmingly positive about Mainline.

We also launched our Flush Mount Housing for kitchen installations at the event and immediately took orders. Allowing the Mainline power track to recessed into the wall, it provides a sleek alternative to surface mounted. Not only that, it can be colour matched to any RAL number.

The Ideal Home Show has now officially been Mainlined!

I have recently returned from Denver, where I attended the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) annual Global Leadership Summit in my capacity as a member of the International Board of Directors of YPO International. More than 2,000 from 75 countries participated in the event – the largest gathering of YPO membership in its 61-year history.

The Global Leadership Summit is the pinnacle of YPO education and idea exchange — it is specifically designed to challenge, inspire and take our members outside their comfort zones. The Summit, held this year in Denver, attracted enormous worldwide media attention when former U.S. President George W. Bush cancelled his appearance because Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had spoken to our group via satellite.

YPO connects successful young chief executives in a global network unlike any other. Founded in 1950 in New York, the organization unites approximately 18,000 business leaders in more than 100 countries around a shared mission: Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange™.

YPO is a hub of global business excellence, with members representing the spectrum of industries from service to sales, manufacturing and financial, and who collectively operate companies that generate more than US$5 trillion in combined annual revenues.

My time spent in the company of other YPOers is invaluable in communicating the benefits of the Mainline power track system to a broad audience of forward thinking Chief Executives from across the globe. The level of interest is enormous and 2011 looks like shaping up as a ‘tipping point’ for Mainline as we launch into multiple new territories.

I had the pleasure of spending time last week in the office of the master distributor for Mainline in the UK and Ireland – Steljes Ltd. I was most impressed with the passion of the Steljes’ Mainline team and their exciting plans for a large scale rollout of Mainline in the UK and Ireland. With a history of successfully launching many new products, it is interesting to note that they describe themselves as specialising in disruptive technology, i.e. identifying the latest in technology to excite, disrupt and change our way of living and working – a definition that is very applicable to the Mainline power track system.

Founded in 1986 by Nigel Steljes, innovation is at the core of the Steljes philosophy and they have demonstrated their skill at identifying future technology successes time and time again. Starting with a prototype of an LCD data projection panel, Nigel Steljes identified the potential market and soon began selling the world’s first commercially available LCD panel and announcing IBM as the company’s first customer. This knowledge and ability to spot the next big technology has been the driving force of many of the successes for Steljes and their current product range represents the top tier of global technology manufacturers. We are now delighted that Mainline is in Steljes’ safe hands to be added to the roll of products that they have successfully launched in the UK and Ireland.

PS: Mainline may be described as disruptive technology, but the flexibility of the system will also create harmony in our lives. Ying and yang indeed!

As I travel around the world in my role as CEO of Mainline’s parent company, Power & Data Corporation, I obviously spend a lot of time in hotel rooms. One of my regular bugbears is that the electrical connectivity requirements of the modern ‘road warrior’ are seemingly at odds with standard hotel room design – particularly if the hotel is a few years old. Is it too much to expect to be able to connect/charge my laptop, iPad, mobile phone, etc. to a power outlet that is (a) easily accessible and (b) able to be used without disconnecting the lamp in the room? I’m always banging my head on the desk as I crawl under it to connect my stuff to the standard fixed power outlet.

And what about the myriad of adaptors required? Surely a system that allows a universal and standardised connection at any point along an accessible track would be a good idea? Well it is a good idea...and that’s one of the reasons why the neat, unobtrusive and flexible Mainline power track system is making steady progress in multiple countries towards being the power delivery system of choice.

It would be nice to think that bumped heads and crooked backs from crawling under hotel room desks will become a thing of the past!

As a parent of three teenage children, I am constantly amazed at the unbelievable pace of their lives and their ability to multi-task across multiple electronic platforms simultaneously. I am also somewhat bemused by the escalating number of ‘must have’ items in their bedrooms – most of which need to be connected or charged to electricity.

When I was growing up, my bedroom had a lamp and a ‘modern’ digital clock connected to a single double power outlet – no problems there. But in the same sized room today, the average teenager will still have the lamp and digital clock – but will also likely have an iPhone charger; a laptop computer; hi-fi speakers; a second monitor or TV; gaming console; and perhaps an electric guitar as well! And guess what? All these items are probably still connected to the same single power outlet that was in the room last century! There will be an unsightly and unsafe cluster of power boards, double adaptors and extension cords – probably gathering dust as it is pushed out of sight under a bed or desk.

The above scenario is easily resolved with the installation of a length of Mainline power track. Very simply, each item will have its own Mainline adaptor, resulting in a much simpler, cleaner – and most importantly – safer environment for the 21st century teenager.

Following the news earlier this year that the new generation Mainline adaptor has been awarded the prestigious international “Red Dot Design Award”, then later this year, the “Australian International Design Award”, we have now been nominated for a “German Design Award”. This award represents the “Best-of-the-Best” in design and innovation, as all entries must have previously won a world-renowned design award to even be considered for entry. This outstanding success for Mainline has created international recognition for what is a brilliant and innovative product.

The Mainline power track system is now – or soon will be - available throughout the UK, Europe, South Africa and India, with more international distributors coming soon. In Australia we are extremely pleased to welcome GLA (www.gilbertlodge.com.au) as the national distributor for Mainline in Australia and New Zealand.

The coming months are expected to be busy for all at Mainline!