42 Years of Innovation – The First Personal AI OS Powered by Comfort Index
From PC Pioneering in 1982 to Ethical AI in 2025 – Our journey built the Comfort Index (CI) to humanise decision intelligence.
Our Proven Legacy of Design & Impact
Experience, Expertise & Achievements
- 2025, Unified One app for Health, Wealth, Connectivity
- 2024, SHE ZenAI Omega* Master Algorithm
- 2023, SHE ZenAI - SHE ZenAI Q*, K* & O*
- 2021, Neurally unified network Operating System (NunOS)
- 2020, Comfort Index Constant (CI)
- 2014, "EDGE" NZ 1st virtual reality resort
- 2013, RMIT Uni UAV R&D sim lab built
- 2011, GT40 V12 X1p car, GT40 history
- 2010, WIRED Times Square, by invitation
- 2010, VisionRacer VR3 "Lovemark" accolade
- 2010-14, "EQ1" Earthquake-ready furniture
- 2009, WIRED Mag, "VisionRacer 8/10"
- 2009, T3 Mag, "Holy Grail of Simulators."
- 2009, Patent, CNNZ, US & UK Designs
- 2007, Business Review, Top 100 Houses, H&G Mag
- 2000, - Business Exist to US VC
- 1992 - 99, Networking - Cisco VAR Business, London
The Vision.
The Mission
To deliver the first Personal AI OS that integrates health, wealth, and connectivity through Comfort Index calculus.”
Event Milestones Research, Understanding, & Execution Since '91
The Goal..,
Personal & Social Harmony with Improved Lifestyle.
Our Story
"David W Harvey has spent 42 years pioneering breakthrough technologies that reshape entire industries. His journey began in 1982 selling one of the first PCs in Australia to CSIRO, progressing through Computer Broking and Finance's DEC systems expertise before relocating to UK HQ after CBF's 1989 acquisition.
After Atlantic Computers Plc collapsed in 1990, he was a co-founder of CSF and helped establish the foundation for what would become a major technology company. He left CSF after 18 months to form Advantage Financial Limited, pioneering FOREX system development and building a leading Cisco Systems VAR that served global giants including Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis, and Lowe Lintas, culminating in major deployments like ICO Global's satellite network. After successfully selling Advantage Financial to a US VC in 2000, he continued pioneering emerging technologies.
In 2007, he founded VisionRacer VR3, launching in 2009 to create what T3 Magazine called the "Holy Grail of Simulators" and WIRED rated 8/10. The 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes affecting his family sparked intensive research that led to foundational novel calculus including the Comfort Index constant—mathematical frameworks that now underpin breakthrough AI systems.
This breakthrough thinking flowed into creating New Zealand's first VR resort (EDGE, 2014), earthquake-ready furniture (EQ1), and ultimately the 2024 Unified Theory of Health, Wealth, Connectivity with SHE ZenAI's Q, K & O algorithms.
Omega* represents the culmination of this extraordinary 42-year journey—from PC pioneer to serial founder to mathematical innovator to personal super-intelligence."
David W Harvey
Serial Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Design By Zen
42 years: PC Pioneer (1982) → Co-founder CSF (1990-91) → Founder Advantage Financial (1991-2000) → VisionRacer VR3 (2007-09) → Mathematical Innovation (2010-11) → AI Breakthrough (2024)
Successful exits: CBF (1989), Advantage Financial → US VC (2000)
Patents: US, UK, CNNZ | Featured: WIRED, T3
About Design By Zen
Company TL; DR
Space: 640m2 Studio, Workshop & Business suite with 50Kw/h solar capacity
Nearest City Airport: Nelson - NSN, 41.2968° S, 173.2220° E
Email: dev@zenig.nz
Image source: Nasa view of the top of the South Island, of NZ.
2009 VisionRacer VR3 MkI with PlayStation 3 -installed in 45 countries - © SimRoom a Design By Zen Simulation Brand
Better By Design
Our value is built on demonstrable heritage, craftsmanship & a passion for excellence. Our hands-on engineering experiences reflect in our designs or productions. Technology now brings ecosystem elements to life that are better by design.
Experiences as a passionate owner/driver & builder of sports cars are published in articles & hardback car books. We understand the emotion of driving raw power with no aids. Solo aircraft hours were logged in an antique aircraft that made a Morris Minor look powerful to understand flying. Restoring one of New Zealand's most iconic wooden mansions & research Institutes saved Fellworth House from terminal decline was rewarding. That experience and expertise is a life journey of study. But above all, we present "What You See Is What You Get" following Dieter Ramms philosophy.
1 Good design is innovative
2 Good design makes a product useful
3 Good design is aesthetic
4 Good design makes a product understandable
5 Good design is unobtrusive
6 Good design is honest
7 Good design is long-lasting
8 Good design is thorough down to the last detail
9 Good design is environmentally-friendly
10 Good design is as little design as possible
The EDGE stream, Savill Bay, NZ -we cared for, restored & drank from this water for 16 years. image © David Harvey
Green = Actions versus paper promises.
DBZ's Commitment: Authentic Environmental Action
I grew from seed, planted and nurture an entire native forest over a decade. This offsets the carbon footprint of the entire DBZ ecosystem. Crafting sustainably, ensures that as we progress, we never lose sight of our green roots.
Build a Legacy: DBZ's Commitment to Authentic Environmental Action
Our native forest project isn't just an initiative; it's our legacy, our contribution to a planet that deserves more. With each year, as our forest grows, its benefits to the Earth multiply, emphasising our role as stewards of nature.
Personal Advocacy: Nutrition and Environment
DBZ promotes growing your food for personal and environmental benefits. Cultivating food connects us to the land, highlighting the balance between consumption and conservation.
Marrying Innovation with Sustainable Design
The DBZ ecosystem thrives at the intersection of design and technology. We focus on sustainable crafting while never losing sight of nature. AI, Forna, and Flora are closer than one first associate.
Our Back Story
Our journey starts by being born into the Jet & Atomic ages of the 1960s. People "dialled" telephones fixed to the wall or on a hall table. Telephones "lines" were sometimes shared and called "party lines". Each party had a ring code. Phone "Booths" were public telephones on every second or third street with Post Boxes for mail. A black & white valve Tv had two government-approved channels commencing broadcast at 3 pm. The local library was the encyclopaedic window to the world -for the town population of 6000.
5km from my town in New Zealand is the birthplace of Lord Rutherford. Lord Rutherford was the first & foremost applied Atomic physicist of the 1800s. Lord Rutherford journeyed from a small shack with twelve siblings to being laid to rest, as a pier, to Sir Issac Newton in Westminster Abby. The great man said, "We had no money, so we had to think." That quote was the ticket to anything being possible (within the laws of physics).
My last assignment before leaving NZ was the legal survey & propose site levelling preparations of the earliest "Fox Hill" Rutherford house site. The original Rutherford house was demolished in the 1920s. The site was little more than a small paddock with old stock drinking toughs & a vague outline of old gardens.
Experience builds Expertise
Our Back Story
The RS423, X.25, Internet, Big Bang, Y2K, Dot.com, Gaming & GFC, 4G, iPhone, Social media, Bitcoin, W3, I was there.
From an insatiable curiosity and a lack of money at eight years old, I started building miniaturized "cat whisker" radio sets for primary school kids to rent for two cents.
Denied access to read a new book on microprocessors at my workplace, I moved to Australia at 19 years old, just one day after graduating. Personal computers were still a year away, and mainframe computers ruled. It was the Yuppie era, and the mantra was "he who has the most toys wins." Australian industries benefited from processing data, and by 1989, it was time to move to London to network big DEC systems. This coincided with the rise of the public internet over the next five years.
A US VC group closed the purchase of the network consulting business on the eve of the Year 2000, allowing me to embark on the next chapter of my life, pursuing luxury lifestyle elements and personal development. We examined hard questions and proposed solutions about life with style and technology in the AI-VR era.
CULT Sports Cars
A passion for sports cars since childhood lead to the formation of CULT Sports Cars in 2003. We have owned, driven, restored and scratch built some of the most beautiful and exotic cars in history.
An example of The CULT Sports car collection is the GT40 X1 "P." This is a reimagined 1965 Ford GT40. Sporting a hand-built BMW 5 ltr V12 with quad, triple 46 IDA Weber carburettors. The car has been included in the hardback reference book history by noted Porsche authority Adrian Streather. The "X1 P" is a marquee part of the CULT Sports Car collection. The finishing & sale creates project economies. The car has reached a running & driveable state requiring final interior design elements & final build. The select project sponsors will become part of vehicle & digital / NFT history.
The other cars are 1968 & 1970 Alfa Romeo GTV 1750, Lola T70's, Datsun 240Z, Fiat 500.
New Zealands First VR Resort
The EDGE Club resort is a virtual resort developed from the actual site data. Now in 2024 persistent reality technology by companies like nVidia make the project a viable reality.
I spent 16 years living on & off, planting 40,000 trees & plants from seeds & cuttings. The experience of living remotely with Zen periods is the inspiration to share the experience as a virtual resort.
Restoring New Zealand's Research History
2007 Business Review Weekly Top 100 NZ Houses,
2008 NZ House & Garden Magazine feature article.
RMIT University Simulation R & D Suite
The Military type suppliers came from a top-down view, "we have it, so it must be best". The (ex DARPA -US Govt., Special Technology Research) RMIT Professor took the view that gaming was providing an expansive, open, well-funded technology base. Given our prestigious client base, global systems experience and ability to innovate we were given the latitude to design the simulation and realtime / real-world interfaces.
"SimRoom responded with a world-class system design, in fact, leading edge. Their commitment and attention to detail were nothing less than their reputation suggested.
SimRoom promised the RMIT something special. What we have installed is awesome.” Dr. Reece Clothier, Deputy Director, Aerospace Research Centre, RMIT, 2014
Dr. Clothier was the Deputy Director of the Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Research Centre and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
SimRoom & RiftRoom Design Use Cases Video 2008 - 2014
BY
"The holy Grail of race simulators".
Where Innovation Meets Opportunity
"With a VisionRacer, I could have gone faster!"
Watch his story about the impossible in 2008.
"VisionRacer, This Is The Future"
“I fell in love with the VisionRacer before it even arrived, and I have never been so satisfied with an entertainment product as I am with this.
It's solid and functionally perfect, and it looks amazing too. From the curves, to the chrome finish, it takes a gaming console and turns it into a desirable piece of modern furniture that adds interest to my lounge, but that is just the start.
My video racing games are now transformed into a virtual world that I really feel I am in. Total escapism, and total immersion. No wonder they say it is used by real drivers as a training tool.
Friends and family are initially intrigued, and then insatiably hooked - it's incredible to watch them sit down, and then become immersed - in seconds. You'll never look at gaming the same way once you've tried it. Paddles and controllers are dead. This is the future.”
Jack Mac, NZ - 06 December 2010
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