High-tech tools help researchers
The Stockton Record

May 3, 2004
By Jennie Rodriguez

SOMEONE'S WATCHING: Sandpiper Technologies owners John, left, and Ann Christensen show one of the company's wireless camera systems. The Manteca company manufactures remote camera and audio equipment to monitor wildlife.

MORE THAN A BOAT: John Christensen designed the MRV-1, a miniature research vessel, above, for a researcher to document waterways. Lisa Burrows, below, works on a Treetop 3 interface.

Business: Sandpiper Technologies

Spokespeople: John and Ann Christensen

Titles: president and treasurer

Information: (209) 239-7460 or www.Sandpipertech.com

Year established: 1989

Services: specializes in customer-based research remote power systems, solar-power equipment, video surveillance, audio systems and components.

Jennie Rodriguez of The Record Money section talked to John and Ann Christensen about their business.

Tell me about your employees?

John Christensen: Ann and I are actually employees of the company, and we also employ three other technicians: Lisa Burrows, our key and most valued technician; Emiliano Marquez, an ITT Tech graduate; and Aaron Busby, an ITT Tech student


Who are your clients?

John Christensen: Most of our customers are researchers, consultants, college students and interns. Many of our consultants will bid a job that requires a piece of equipment that we rent, and that's why our rental program is so important.

We spent two years developing a boat underwater camera currently used by biologist David Spencer, a professor at UC Davis, who is mapping the growth of non-native plant species in California freshwater rivers.


How did you get started?

John Christensen: When I was working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of my colleagues, a wildlife biologist by the name of Jim Woollett, called me, because he needed help with a piece of equipment. He and I actually went on a Toys "R" Us hunt and bought some tank parts. We put together a miniature robot that crawled inside animal burrows, placed a video camera on it and called it the Mole -- the Miniature Optical Layer Explorer. It was featured in the back cover of National Geographic, and CNN did a 15-minute piece on it.

We're a classic garage business that started from a good idea and has grown and still is growing. We started in our garage in 1989 with the name Christensen Designs, then incorporated in 1997 with the new name Sandpiper Technologies. Soon after that, we purchased our building in 1999.


What are some of your most revolutionary innovations?

John Christensen: We developed the first elevated camera. It used to take two biologists in an afternoon, in one whole eight-hour work shift, to get about four or five bird nests actually inspected. When we invented our elevating camera, one biologist could inspect 20 nests in an hour. It has made a huge impact, and it has saved the U.S. Forest Service a great amount of money. Plus, it improved the quality of the biology research.

We developed a digital video recorder with a time-lapse feature about the size of a handbag, capable of running on solar power. We have a lot of customers buying this because of its high quality and extreme portability.

We've developed a probe that goes underground, which we call the Peeper, and that's used throughout the community to study kit foxes, burrowing owls and even search and rescue. On Sept. 12, the day after Sept. 11, (2001), we got a call from FEMA, and we basically shipped our whole inventory of probes at no cost to them. The long and the short of it is, here's a biology tool used for search and rescue.

With our equipment, there is no waste stream for as long as you have it. It either works the way you want it, or you send it to us and we'll upgrade it, so it's constantly the latest technology. There will never be a bunch of old Peepers lying around.


In what direction do you see Sandpiper headed?

John Christensen: We will be introducing to the community the concept of a small, portable, 25-watt fuel cell, which runs continuously for 100 hours with 1 liter of methanol. We have customers that work in the north slope of Alaska at the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. This fuel cell offers a tremendous advantage to clients that work under high latitudes. These are the areas where fuel cells will be making their mark.

We're also going to open our expertise into the area of law enforcement. We've developed a micro probe that has very contemporary functions that are of interest to law enforcement. The elevated cameras and remote power systems can be used for tactical areas and search and rescue.

Whenever there's an unusual project, people usually find our Web site for a number of reasons, and then they come to us.

We would like to take on a partner or possibly sell the business. The optimum for Sandpiper is to get a younger person involved to ultimately own the company.


How are you involved in the community?

Ann Christensen: Most of our advertising budget goes to sponsoring students. Initially, we started renting equipment to consultants. That fleet has ended up becoming a grant fleet, where we actually send it free of charge to students and interns for their full field fleet, which is usually three or four months.

We typically loan out our Peepers to people studying cavity nests, birds, barn owls and bats. Some examples of organizations that have used our equipment include: Cornell University, UC Berkeley, Long Beach and Davis. We have a grant out to a client studying whales off of Hawaii.

John Christensen: Ann and I started Central Valley Inventors Association 11 years ago. We meet in the Manteca Public Library every second Saturday of every month. Its function is to be a community resource for people who want to start a business, have an invention or product idea. Saturday's meeting will feature a guest speaker from Sacramento, George Tastard, who will be discussing ways to grow international sales.


Is there any advice you would like to offer to someone with a business idea?

John Christensen: Ann and I would both agree that it should be possible that someone who wants to work hard and is reasonably intelligent should be able to earn a living out of a spare bedroom or garage; only in this country can you do that with ideas. You have to focus on the common goal, which is what the customer wants. If you can deliver anything to someone who wants it at a reasonable price, then you have a business.

From: The Stockton Record