Altcom Ltd

Altcom

When altcom moved its headquarters to Penzance in January 2004, it was hardly taking a leap in the dark. Managing Director John Cowles had spent nearly 20 years living and working in the county. After working for nearly a decade at the UK Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in Penryn, in 1999 he joined altcom, a Tiverton based company he had helped set up in 1995. Altcom developed sophisticated news processing and taxonomical analysis systems for the news and financial information giant Reuters.

The company built a strong reputation in this field and began to diversify, taking on clients in the global information, environmental and professional and public sectors. John says there are now two distinct strands to the business. The first strand is in rich web applications which includes large scale content management systems, complex databases and website builds. Their clients in this strand include the NHS, London Transport Museum and University College Falmouth.

The second strand is rather more specialized. Altcom has developed software especially for the geothermal and oil and gas industries. Working with a US based multinational energy company, they have created software that analyses microseismic data to determine where fluid movement and pressure changes occur in geothermal and oil fields. The software, called Microseisgram, was launched at the September 2010 Society of Petroleum Engineers event in Italy to an extremely positive reception.

There are two main markets for Microseisgram: the research arms of oil and geothermal companies, and the field operating units who want to QA the data they receive from service companies and carry out their own analysis. Altcom’s software will help companies to be more informed when making multi million pound decisions, like where to drill new wells.

The majority of their clients are outside the county in places as diverse as London, Hull, California, Australia and Kazakhstan, which means John travels regularly. He says: “The flights from Newquay are a lifesaver, as is the sleeper service to London Paddington. It’s important for me that, when I need to leave the county, it is as stress free and easy as possible.”

However John also uses transatlantic conference calls and video conferencing where possible. He says: “We meet face to face with our overseas clients maybe twice a year, but we meet online frequently, with Skype, screen sharing services and email filling in the gaps. Where we are physically located is really irrelevant - as long as the supporting technology is there.” He is particularly enthusiastic about the benefits that superfast broadband will bring to his business. “Next Generation Broadband Access will allow us to deliver services and support in a way we can’t currently do. It will make a major improvement to video conferencing, file sharing, online support and training.”

Location

John chose the centre of Penzance as a location as it was not only close to home, but also an inspirational environment to work in. He says: ‘If employees are stuck on a problem they can take a walk, grab a cappuccino, clear their heads and view things freshly. There’s a buzz about the town that you just don’t get on a business park’

Staff

John was initially concerned that he would not be able to find suitably qualified staff in Cornwall, however these concerns were unfounded as several highly qualified IT specialists found him and now work for the company. ‘We found a wealth of talent down here, and not always in the obvious places. One of our programmers had a degree in Engineering but drove a tractor as there were no jobs in the area. Another had been unemployed for years despite having an IQ that would shame Einstein. We’ve been blessed with a talented, loyal and hardworking team. Our staff turnover since 1995 has been zero!’

Initially there were only two members of staff but the business has now swelled to accommodate nine. John Cowles said ‘Being able to create and sustain well paid jobs in Penzance is one of the main things that gets me out of bed in the morning’.

Support

Altcom received assistance from Business Link who helped them achieve their ISOO 9001:2008 accreditation. Business Link have also helped them with the licensing of their microseisgram software and the launch of it.

UKTI assisted them the cost of travel to exhibitions and events and WIN Atlantic helped subsidise the booth costs at the SPE event in September.

John Cowles said ‘The level of support we’ve received has been excellent. There seems to be a real will to get behind companies that are doing innovative work and a much more joined-up approach from the various agencies. ‘