SOUTHAMPTON Itchen MP Royston Smith visited Snowflake Software, a city centre technology firm which is making a big impact in global aviation.

Founded in June 2001 by Ordnance Survey colleagues Ian Painter and Eddie Curtis, Snowflake specialises in supplying cloud and onipremise software solutions for the aviation industry. The company has grown 30 per cent year-on-year over the last three years, doubling the size of its team in both Southampton and Washington DC. It now employs more than 40 staff.

Snowflake’s success has been based on its Laminar Data Platform, which won the Innovation category at the IHS Jane’s ATC Awards.

The software is the world’s first commercial software platform dedicated to fusing, cleaning and organising the world’s aviation data and making it available in real time.

As well as NATS, one of Snowflakes major clients, the Southampton business includes the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) among its clients.

Snowflake also has a major emphases on working with local educational institutions including the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, where many of the team studied.

Mr Smith said “Innovative technology businesses are immensely valuable to the local and national economy through developing the exports that secure our long term prosperity as a nation.

“It’s great to see a Southampton company achieving such international success, it just goes to show the talent that Southampton has to offer when exporting globally.”

Snowflake’s managing director, Ian Painter, said, “We are proud to be both local and international, with international customers and an international team that together enrich our company. We look forward to continuing to grow here in Southampton.’’