Optilan

Optilan
Optilan
Type private
Industry Communication and Security System Provider
Founded Coventry, West Midlands, England (1990 (1990))
Founder(s) Tim Allen
Richard Buckland
Eamonn McFadden
Headquarters Coventry, England
Services System Design, System Integration and Installation, Maintenance, Cable and Fiber Optic Installation, Product Build and Test
Employees 240 (2009)
Website Optilan Homepage

Optilan is a communication and security systems provider operating worldwide. The company was originally founded in 1990. With the head office located in Coventry, Optilan now also operate at offices in Russia, Azerbaijan and the US. It is a privately owned business employing around 240 people on a full time basis in addition to a number of field experts brought in for specific projects. ‘The Times- Profit Track 100’ named Optilan among the 100 fastest growing private companies in the UK in 2008.

Contents

History

Early Years

Optilan was first formed in 1990 by good friends and Co-Apprentices from GEC Telecommunications (now Telent); Tim Allen, Richard Buckland and Eamonn McFadden. Prior to forming the company, Richard Buckland and Tim Allen had been working at Walmore Electronics- a fibre optics company in Central London, from which they left as the company moved into other areas. After discovering that Walmore were no longer continuing in the field of the contracts they had been working on; Tim and Richard gained their blessing to secure work with the number of the clients including; The BBC, Royal Albert Hall, Honeywell in Taiwan and Dubal Aluminium in Dubai. Eamonn McFadden, who had been working for GEC in Thailand, then joined the pair to become the third member of the team.

From as early as 1991 Optilan had started taking orders over £100,000, the first of which being in the Isle of Wight for Plessey Radar, where Optilan installed a fibre optic transmission system.

As the company grew in size, Bal Kler and Chris Yarwood joined the three original company founders on the board of directors and increasingly more staff were employed on a full time basis.

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Ken Taylor From Coventry City Council Awards Optilan The Contract

Channel Tunnel Rail Link

In 2001 Optilan were given the contract to work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, providing the CCTV, Data Transmission Network (DTN) and the Local Area Network (LAN). Optilan was also offered the maintenance contract for the support of these systems.

Coventry Citywide Network

Coventry City Council’s own network was the first of its kind to be installed in the UK in 2007. With over 87 miles of fibre optic cables being laid around Coventry by Optilan, the system now reaches all the areas council buildings and schools to meet the demands of the city's 300,000 residents and enable local schools to get faster broadband access. This was also Optilan’s first contract for over £10 million.

Head Office Locations

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Optilan Head Office

Optilan’s Head Office is located in Coventry, England. The company had previously been located in Kenilworth; however had to move due to an increase in company size.

Optilan's Equipment build and test areas are also located at the Coventry site. Products from here are distributed worldwide to be fitted within communication and security systems.

Optilan also operates from offices in Moscow (Russia), Baku (Azerbaijan) and the company’s US subsidiary Optilan Inc. operates out of Houston, USA.

Examples of Optilan’s projects

Channel Tunnel Rail Link- providing bespoke telecommunications, station communication and security systems.

Scottish telecoms operator ‘Thus’ (previously Scottish Telecom) - Principal Contractor for OHL (Overhead Line) Fiber Wrap Replacement projects over Scottish Power’s infrastructure

University of Hertfordshire- providing optical fiber based telecommunications network and CCTV security systems for their new de Havilland campus.

Russian Permafrost Projects- Design and supply of communications infrastructure for the South Shapkino Project, encompassing wellheads, process plant and export pipeline

Easynet- England fiber works Contractor for Easynet, and has been providing preventative and emergency maintenance services to the 6000 km national network since 1998 as well as expanding the network over waterways and highways infrastructure throughout the UK.

Coventry Wide Area Network (CovWAN)- A £10million upgrade of Coventry City Council's ICT network, called the wide area network (WAN) connecting all council buildings and schools to meet the increasing demands of delivering services for the city's 300,000 residents and enabling local schools to benefit from improved broadband access and faster internet services.

References


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