IT Life: Bringing Wireless Indoors

Ravi Mondair is chief operations officer at iWireless Solutions, which provides in-building wireless connectivity, including for the London Olympics.  His IT life involved in-building wireless systems for ten years, at companies including O2, before he founded the in-building specialist iWireless Solutions in in 2006

What has been your favourite project so far?
It would have to be the 2012 Olympics in London – we were responsible for designing, installing and maintaining virtually all of the mobile and emergency wireless systems throughout the park and major stadiums across the UK. It was marvellous to be part of such a great event that was one of the biggest and most challenging projects we have worked on so far.

Bringing wireless indoors

What tech were you involved with ten years ago?
Ten years ago I was working at Red-M, managing the InBuilding department on all aspects of a build throughout which I used GSM. [Red-M itself has a tech history, being the final incarnation of the British network firm that once ruled the IBM token ring sector – Editor]

What tech do you expect to be using in ten years’ time?
Difficult to say – at the moment the technology industry is expanding exponentially with new developments and products being introduced to the market on a daily basis. If I had to think of a technology that I’d like to see in ten years’ time or at least hope to see, it would have to be a ‘do it all’ tricoder or on the more adventurous side – holographically controlled computers.

Who’s your tech hero?
Steve Jobs – he is an inspiration to all entrepreneurs because he stood by his work, believing in its potential, ignoring all the negative comments stemming from other industry leaders. I admire him for his tenacity and his confidence in his work – without which we would be living in a very different world.

Who’s your tech villain?
Clive Sinclair – but only for the aged C5 electric vehicle that was powered by a washing machine motor that I think was poorly designed and verging on the dangerous. However, I have to say that his earlier Sinclair Spectrum makes up for this failure.

What’s your favourite technology ever made? Which do you use most?
At the risk of letting everyone know my age – my favourite technology ever made would have to be the Atari Games Console! Have many great memories playing on the console for days on end during those cold winter months. Unfortunately I don’t have an Atari Games Console anymore but the technology I use the most now is my iPhone.

What is your budget outlook going forward?
Flat at the moment – but I expect an even rise in Q1 next year which will be sustained from Q2 due to the LTE auctions in 2013.

Apart from your own, which company do you admire most and why?
This is a difficult one – there are so many companies but if I had to just choose one I would have to go with Microsoft. They have grown from humble beginnings to one of the largest multinational organisations. They are global leaders within the industry and continue to dictate upcoming trends within the market by constantly innovating and changing their current product lines to suit the shifting needs of their customers.

What’s the greatest challenge for an IT company/department today?
One of the biggest challenges would have to be trying to reduce and bring down capital expenditure (capex) and operational expenditure (opex) costs without impinging on the quality of service.

To Cloud or not to Cloud?
Most definitely Cloud – organisations are now able to centralise all of their main documents and data within one area, allowing employees to easily access any data that they require from anywhere.

What did you want to be when you were a child?
Strangely enough I wanted to become a builder – in fact I still dabble in construction as a part time occupation!

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