Adelaide’s hi-tech experts powering global communications
From a suburban workshop to a global defence and technology leader, Codan has become one of South Australia’s most successful exporters – proving that hi-tech innovation can thrive in Adelaide.
It began in a small Adelaide workshop more than 60 years ago, when three University of Adelaide friends set out to help people stay connected across Australia’s most remote regions.
Today, Codan has grown into one of South Australia’s largest and most successful global exporters – a quiet achiever behind the advanced critical technologies used worldwide by defence forces, public safety and emergency responders, miners and humanitarian teams.
Listed in the ASX200 and now ranked number three in the 2025 South Australian Business Index, Codan is a group of innovative technology companies that design and manufacture technologies that operate in some of the harshest and most critical environments on earth.
“Our technologies are built for the toughest conditions where reliable communication or detection can literally save lives,” says managing director and CEO Alf Ianniello. “That sense of purpose drives everything we do.”
In the past four years, Codan has grown from 250 people to now more than 1000 located at 15 sites across Australia, the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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Its Mawson Lakes site is the company’s global HQ and APAC advanced manufacturing and engineering hub, showcasing Adelaide’s hi-tech manufacturing strengths when competing with the best in the world.
Almost 94 per cent of Codan’s revenue now comes from overseas markets, with the company recording a 22 per cent rise in group revenue to $674 million and a 27 per cent lift in profit to $103.5 million in 2025.
Over the past four years, Codan has acquired seven specialist businesses including Zetron (public safety, transport and command-and-control systems), DTC (tactical communications, broadcast and unmanned systems), and US soldier-worn network specialist Kägwerks, expanding its reach across defence, security and public safety markets.
“Each acquisition has been a strategic add-on to our existing capability and customer reach,” Ianniello says. “They’ve made us a stronger, more global business.”
A recent breakthrough is the bluSDR-90, a next-generation software-defined radio developed by DTC. Compact, lightweight and adaptable, it provides secure, high-bandwidth communications in contested environments, vital for modern defence and emergency operations.
The bluSDR-90 builds on Codan’s heritage in rugged, high-frequency radio while opening new possibilities for manned and unmanned missions.
Another new and innovative piece of kit is the Sentry 6161, a military‑focused mesh MANET radio. “This is what Codan does best,” Ianniello says. “We take complex engineering challenges and turn them into reliable, real-world solutions.”
Through Domo Broadcast and Wave Central, the company supplies wireless broadcast and video transmission systems used by leading television networks and major sporting events around the world from motorsport coverage to live stadium production.
Meanwhile, Zetron is a leading provider of integrated command-and-control systems for public safety agencies and utilities. Recent contracts include a 10-year, $14 million nationwide emergency voice network in the Asia-Pacific, alongside large deployments in Europe and North America.
Zetron’s technology connects 911-style call centres, dispatchers and field responders, ensuring communications stay up when everything else is down. “These are systems designed for when every second counts,” Ianniello says. “They help communities respond faster and more effectively.”
While communications is driving Codan’s growth, its Minelab metal detectors business is the global authority in detectors for gold prospecting, recreation and counter-mine operations. Its products – designed and developed in South Australia – are used by everyone from artisanal miners in Africa to humanitarian teams clearing former conflict zones.
In the next 12 months, Minelab is launching four new detectors. These technologies and innovations are driven by Codan reinvesting around 10 per cent of revenue into R&D, supporting a global team of more than 300 engineers.
Beyond its business achievements, Codan demonstrates a strong commitment to giving back to the communities in which it operates. This includes a long history of supporting Variety, and partnerships with organisations that create opportunities for young people such as Youth Opportunities and Yalari. It also provides STEM sponsorships through the University of Adelaide and UniSA.
For Ianniella, Codan’s climb up the ASX and the SA Business Index is “a credit to our people and to South Australia’s capability as a global technology centre”.
“We’ve grown from a local company into a global leader quietly proving that world-class innovation can be designed and built right here in Adelaide,” he says.
