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Posted: Mon, March 17, 2003
Link Infotec: Expansion is on the cards Link Information Technology Ltd was formed in 1997 by Clive Marshall,
following a 30 year career with IBM which provided
him with in-depth experience of large corporate IT systems. The company focused on providing high level consultancy and strategic IT
services to major enterprises in Wales and the North West, and expanded rapidly. Link found that companies both large and small
were struggling to fully exploit the new opportunities
provided by the Internet. Unreliable hosting and connectivity services and poor strategic advice were holding companies back.The company launched Internet Wales and INW Internet to provide a source of high reliability connections and in-house web hosting services to local businesses. This allowed the company to provide a one stop shop to clients. UKSAT.Info was launched in 2001 as an information resource on satellite broadband systems. Marshall was joined in 2000 by co-directors Colin Burman, ex Smurfit Plc marketing director, and Graham Hudson, ex Dunlop Plc CEO, who, Marshall says, have been fundamental in expanding the business. ITW: What products/services does your company provide? CM: Our business is now web enablement in all its forms. We provide businesses with connections to the Internet and to their various offices, allowing fast reliable information flow. We host their servers in-house, with 24 hour security and full back up facilities. We can create the most complex database driven, e-commerce enabled websites and link them to a companies core systems, or provide a simple informative website for a small business. ITW: What's unique or outstanding about the services you provide? CM: Innovation. All our staff are encouraged to think 'out of the box', to spend time researching latest technologies, to provide cost effective and efficient solutions for our clients. We provide major companies with leading edge solutions based upon our own experience and research, not theory. In providing managed network systems, we reduce cost to the client by installing tailored solutions, often incorporating a mix of satellite, wireless and ADSL technologies, rather than expensive leased lines and routers. Often we are called upon to resolve database or application issues with a clients existing systems and find that rather than resolve the problems in a lengthy project, it is more cost effective and beneficial in the long term to simply re-write a simpler system using modern programming methods, than to prop up an old tired system. Our innovation has allowed us in a recent project, to replace a £250k application running on a £300k mainframe, with a system costing less than £100k and running on a large Pentium server costing less than £10,000. The client is surprised, but delighted with the outcome. We also pride ourselves in service and response. A company recently called us from Cheshire; due to a disaster, they had experienced a total loss of connectivity between two of their offices, situated half a mile from each other. This had brought the business to a standstill. We carried out a survey that afternoon and installed a 20 megabyte wireless link the following day. ITW: What one piece of technology has benefited your company the most? CM: Satellite broadband. Wales is particularly badly served in terms of general Internet connectivity. We are able, via satellite and wireless, to provide our services literally anywhere in the country. Communities can now share a broadband satellite link over low cost wireless links. Schools, libraries and other communities can all benefit from high speed Internet access. We became the main distributor for Hughes Satellite systems across Wales in 2001, and now supply the entire UK. Again we pride ourselves in providing innovation. Not only can we supply a range of broadband satellite services, but, with a close partnership with the developers at Hughes, we can set up private networks and voice communication systems across these links. ITW: What one piece of advice would you give to start-up companies in your field? CM: Too many companies sell products in boxes and provide no support, or advice on how to integrate them. Differentiate your company by knowing your clients' real needs, and then provide complete, innovative solutions and support. ITW: What's been the key to your success? CM: Being able to move at the leading edges of technology, we can provide clients with solid practical solutions, which are of real benefit to their business, improving them both financially and culturally by improving morale, efficiency and communication. ITW: Where do you see Link Infotec going in the future? CM: We are committed to a rapidly expanding client base. We are planning for major growth in connectivity sales, i.e. satellite and wireless communications, and now provide services over the Gilat, Inmarsat, Eutelsat and Hughes Networks. We are experiencing many requests from larger telecommunication companies who wish to integrate our technologies into their product ranges and we are starting to export into Europe. With the likely implementation of higher speed, point to point satellite services later in the year, we will continue to be the most experienced provider satellite technology in Wales. ContactsLink InfotecTel: 01978 359 999 Web: http://www.link-infotec.com / http://www.inwinternet.com / http://www.uksat.info |
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