Ron Marquis, Wireless Fibre Systems

Ron Marquis joined Wireless Fibre Systems in Livingston in April 2005 as Business Development Manager, having moved back to Scotland from London.

He is helping to market the company’s groundbreaking technology that allows people to communicate more effectively underwater or underground.

In the short time he has been with the company, it has thrived and is looking to now grow even further, offering more challenging opportunities.

What is your background?

I’m an engineer by training, having graduated back in 1973. I joined Ferranti in Edinburgh and became a Flight Trials engineer, undertaking testing of new equipment in the field before it went into full production. I spent about nine years doing that and then I became a development engineer.

This increasingly involved demonstrations to customers and led to me going full time in sales and marketing. This led to me being heavily involved in overseas promotions and I eventually became the Area Manager for the Middle East.

During this time, Ferranti was taken over by GEC-Marconi and I joined their Simulation and Training division in Fife as the Marketing Manager Asia Pacific. This division amalgamated with several other divisions within GEC-Marconi and eventually formed a joint venture with an Italian company that became Alenia Marconi Systems.

The UK end of this operation was based in Frimley near London and I found my time being split between two locations at the opposite ends of the country. I was doing a very large amount of commuting back and forth between England and Scotland. Eventually I left that job and joined Wireless Fibre Systems Ltd, in Livingston.

What attracted you to this company?

I had spent some 32 years in a big company environment and the prospect of a small company was intriguing. One of the very noticeable differences is that decisions are made fast. You don’t have too many meetings to decide on a course of action. You have much more direct influence on what the company is doing because there are fewer people involved.

This was also whole new area of business for me – underwater communication, which was something I was very unfamiliar with back then. Subsequently, the company has gone from strength to strength. When I began, there were four full-time people and one part-time. Now there are ten full-time and two part-time. Two more are joining in the next few weeks and several posts are being advertised. I believe the company has reached that tipping point where it is about to take off. It’s a fascinating situation to be involved in. I’ve never been in one that has expanded that fast before.

What does your role currently involve?

I am the Business Development Manager, which currently involves preparing and submitting proposals, running exhibitions and creating promotional material. We have four distinct markets for this underwater technology. They are defence/homeland security, offshore oil and gas, environmental monitoring, and oceanography. These are distinct markets but the technology we are trying to sell is applicable in all of them.

We also have an adjacent market emerging when we realised that our underwater radio communications also go through the ground – through rock and mud. On our first test in September, we managed to get 70 metres range, which is as deep as we could go in the mine at Birkhill where we conducted our first experiment.

The significance of that is in mine safety, or keeping in contact with your staff underground. You can do it running cables, but if you have a catastrophic rock fall, your cable is probably going to be swept away. How do you find out if your people are still alive and where they located? This is a way of doing it as it involves no cabling.

We are exploring markets we have never looked at before, so that’s interesting. We are coming up with ideas and possibilities that, until now, were not thought possible. It’s exciting stuff; all the staff are well motivated.

What is so interesting about working for this company?

It’s the speed at which we can explore new opportunities and technology. From having a gleam in our eye to actually having something working is very short indeed.

The chairman and owner Brendan Hyland is very decisive. We are well supported by government funding – winning many grants and awards over the last 12 months from both the defence and civil industry. It’s the fastest moving and responsive company I’ve ever been in. When it sees an opportunity, it goes for it at full speed.

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

Adapting to a business process that I have not been familiar with in the past. I have been a defence man for most of my career, but the technology in this company is of a similar high calibre. This is much more commercial-orientated work, but it is still fascinating.

How do you find living in Edinburgh and working in Livingston?

Although I come from Pitlochry up north, I’ve lived in different parts of the UK, such as the Mull of Galloway and the South East of England. Edinburgh is now my home, so being able to find a job within commuting distance from there is a great bonus.

Edinburgh is a splendid city. It’s a superb place to bring up a family and Livingston is easily commutable from there.

What does the future hold for you?

I’m not that far away from retirement, in the next three or four years. But at the moment, Wireless Fibre Systems is providing me with really challenging and fascinating work.

More information:

Wireless Fibre Systems