Tech company partners with German counterpart

A small Reno company with a giant client has partnered with its counterpart in Europe to provide seamless service to customers on both sides of the pond.

The company is Oxford International, and the client is Porsche.

When the sports car maker moved its U.S. office from downtown Reno to resettle in Atlanta in 1998, it outsourced its information technology computer operations to Oxford International.

Meanwhile, Porsche tech chief Tony Chadwick helped move the behemoth automaker to its new digs in Georgia.

When that was done, he bought Oxford.

One small problem: Oxford was headquartered in New Jersey, but Chadwick called Reno home. No problem: now that he was the chief executive officer, he centered the headquarters of Oxford, formed in 1997, at the Reno location in 2002.

Oxford, with 20 permanent employees and up to 15 contract staff, supports vehicle management processes with custom-built computer systems. Its software handles every aspect of the order, sale and delivery each time a buyer purchases a Porsche. From start to end, the process is largely automated.

Although Porsche is a household name in the States, it's German at heart. And in Germany, Mieschke Hoffmann and Partner a service subsidiary of Porsche AG handles the technical aspects of purchase orders.

One small problem: Porsche, which owns 70 percent of Mieschke Hoffmann and Partner, does not want it to operate in the States.

No problem: Oxford International has agreed to partner with Mieschke in providing services to clients.

Mieschke's 400 clients in Europe use a software package developed by SAP AG. Porsche has transferred many of its back-office systems to SAP and wants the same product used in the States. The partnership will enable Oxford to achieve that uniformity and serve the subsidiaries that Mieschke's European clients have in this country.

The partnering will double the workload at Oxford, says Chadwick. He expects a 50 percent increase in employment at the Reno office over the next three years.

But while Oxford staffs 24/7 to support software users throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, Porsche isn't Oxford's only job.

The company provides network support to other companies in northern Nevada. And, it converts training courses so that they can be sold as remote classes, to be taken online as Web based education.