A pioneering medical firm whose products have revolutionised neo-natal care in the UK, is taking on the medical market across the Atlantic.

Sussex-based EME (Electro Medical Equipment) has teamed up with Sechrist Industries, a leading manufacturer of ventilators for new born babies, to market its products and services to the United States.

Selchrist is to distribute EME's innovative, award-winning Infant Flow System and hopes to repeat the same success story in American hospitals as it has in the UK.

Its special breathing machine for premature babies is now found in almost every UK neonatal unit.

Managing director of EME, Steve Foster said: "We may be a small British firm but we are determined to take on the larger and more established American companies in their own back yard.

"Sechrist Industries already has similar core values and ethics and has an established and excellent reputation in the manufacture of neo-natal ventilators.

"Combining that business reputation and our revolutionary product means we are a force to be reckoned with, delivering British-developed 21st Century technology to premature babies in the United States."

The Infant Flow System, developed by research engineers at the firm's Brighton head office, provides breathing support to premature babies.

Instead of the more conventional breathing tube being inserted into the baby's mouth, tiny nasal prongs or masks fit on to the baby's nose. These deliver air into the lungs while an ingenious device, invented by Swedish doctors Gunnar Moa and Kjell Nilsson and developed by EME engineers, switches the direction of the air flow to allow the baby to breathe out.

The product has been hailed by the medical profession for helping reduce the number of premature babies needing conventional mechanical ventilation and was awarded the Queen's Award for Innovation.

Star Consulting, the Brighton-based business training consultancy and brokerage, has been appointed by Ordnance Survey to provide information technology training to its UK staff.

The company will give advice on high-quality and cost-effective training and arrange courses in technical IT, including desktop applications, programming languages and other software tools.

Ordnance Survey is responsible for maintaining the national mapping archive.

It has headquarters in Southampton and employs 1,850 people.