Animation Research Ltd managing director Ian Taylor arrived back from the test at the Gabba, in Brisbane, glowing after the Virtual Eye technology survived two stressful moments that could have defined the match.
ARL had won the contract for its technology to be used on Australia's Nine Network.
On the first day, the decision-review technology was used to rule Australian bowler Peter Siddle had secured a hat trick. A decision on the first ball of the England second innings decided captain Andrew Strauss was not out.
Fortunately, the technology worked and the correct decisions were made by the umpire, Mr Taylor said.
ARL won the contract for the Ashes during the winter, when no cricket pitches in Dunedin were open.
The team realised that if it was to meet demanding international standards it had to improve on the latest technology available.
That meant ARL rebuilding its ball-tracking technology from the ground up and improving the speed from 110 frames per second to 230 frames per second, Mr Taylor said.
"This is great for television but under earlier circumstances it was where the ball would go if it hadn't hit anything. Under the review, the question became where does it go if it hits a person. Did the ball hit the pad below the roll bar, to the left or right of the pad?
"At 110 frames you can't tell. With 230 frames, you can see the indent on the pad, the frames are so fast."
Dunedin ingenuity was needed to lift the standard of technology, but it was on the cheap."
Because no cricket pitches were available, ARL built a scale-model wooden pitch, installed a plastic pipe and rolled jaffas down the pipe.
When the jaffas emerged, the technology tracked them.
"That's how we developed the 230 frames per second. We had a quarter of a million dollars worth of hardware tracking jaffas on a wooden pitch that cost about $10."
