A Bradford technology company is on the way up just 12 months after both of its directors suffered brushes with serious illness.

Strata Software and Consultancy, based at the Velocity business park in Listerhills, has contracts as far afield as Russia, Australia , Iran and Ghana.

The product has already been used by archaeologists looking at the pyramids in Egypt.

Their success has come from Penmap, a product which surveyors working in difficult geographical territories can use to map out areas without having to use cumbersome computer systems.

Penmap is essentially a pen-based computer which allows the user to write on a hand-held screen as if they were holding a normal pen.

It is being used in 15 different countries by professionals ranging from archaeologists researching the pyramids to police officers at the scenes of car crashes.

The product was developed by business partner Gordon Pagen during a period of convalescence when he suffered a serious illness which led to him being hospitalised for 19 months.

The illness left him paralysed from the waist down and today he is confined to a wheelchair. However it was during this period that Mr Pagen developed the new technology, which is now being used all over the world.

Mr Pagen's medical difficulties were not the only bad luck to strike the business, as its other business partner Richard Trainer suffered blindness for a period of six months.

Fortunately his sight has now been restored. Now the two directors are relaunching the company which they expect to go from strength to strength.

"The idea for re-launching the company came at a very difficult period for us," said Mr Trainer, who, originally from California, is now living in Oxenhope.

"After Gordon woke up and found himself paralysed failure was not an option for us. My sight is now fully restored, and I would be able to find other work, but Gordon would have found it difficult."

Essential to their success was two loans totalling £100,000 from Partnership Investment Finance, which helped finance the company's ongoing development.

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk