Excelerate Technology

Excelerate Technology Ltd was founded in 2001 by Chief Executive David Savage, a highly experienced communications professional who identified at an early stage the potential of satellite broadband for use in the emergency management, government, sport, and corporate communications sectors. Since its establishment, and through an active program of rapid technological development and strong customer commitment, the company has rapidly become the UK market leader in the provision of Video, Voice, Data and Internet over Satellite and Wireless solutions on board a variety of vehicles and within a growing range of market sectors. The company offers a ‘one-stop’ shop for turnkey/end-to-end products and solutions and its products portfolio is rapidly growing and offers a range of products that can be supplied as stand-alone solutions or as part of a large scale bespoke project. Due to the complex nature of the business, part of the service is to consult and educate customers about the technology and how it can benefit their operational requirements as well as be a more cost effective approach to sharing information- this is critical given current times austerity. Excelerate Technology Ltd is headquartered on a two-acre private site within a secure technology park fifteen minutes drive from Junction 28 of the M4 at St. Mellons, Cardiff, Wales. Within the 9000 square feet facility are the R&D Centre, distribution, installation and technical engineering functions, and it is from this location that the company runs its Network Operations Centre for private satellite and GSM networks.

Origins

The founders of Excelerate were aligned in their ambitions and aspirations both personally and corporately. At the corporate level, they wanted to make a difference to customers in clear tangible ways and set out for the company be a market leader and to be regarded as a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. They also wanted the company to be a big business and to be at least a UK market leader with the aim of moving into the international arena – Excelerate is currently looking at worldwide opportunities which could see it potentially becoming an international market leader – the company is currently involved in a number of worldwide opportunities which should see it globalising its business over the next few years.

Success factors

For the founders, it has been patience, tenacity and belief that at some point the vision and hard work will pay off and never ever give up because once that happens, the business is dead. In addition, the company now recognises that it has an incredibly long, expensive and complex sales cycles so ensuring the company had enough cash to come out the other end was vital. Once the company had passed the point of being the longest new start business that the founder had ever invested in, the effort that had been put into its 'pioneering concept proving' days started to pay off when much larger contracts started to be awarded.

The future?

These are interesting and challenging times for a company whose UK government customers account for more than 95% of its business. The founder firmly believes that the company is in the 'must have' category rather than the 'nice to have' category and its share of the market makes Excelerate an integral part of the UK National Interest, as well as at the core of any major Civil Contingency Plan. Government cuts aside, the company are only at the beginning of its UK growth cycle with arising opportunities and positive future prospects both within the UK and Internationally. In 2011, the business is confident of good international sales opportunities which will benefit the business in future years as the technology and ‘know-how’ is readily transferable into new markets. In addition, a manufacturing business acquired last year, which has a world first unique and patented automatic CCTV deployment solution, already has customers and is capable of sales in many countries worldwide.

Sector: Data applications provider

Established: 2001

Growth: 219.2%