A letter from Huntingdon to Milton

A LETTER FROM HUNTINGDON TO MILTON

               

  

At 1435 on Friday I prepared an important letter for Dr Chris Thomas of Milton Contact but I wanted to test the postal system as well so I inserted a Tracker from Vilant into the package.  The Vilant Tracker registers itself on the 3G cellular phone network so that if you interrogate the phone network provider they can tell you where the tracker has been.  The accuracy is within the coverage areas of particular cellular wireless masts (an accuracy of 1-2 km)

A few minutes after 1600 I went into the Post office on Huntingdon High Street, weighed the letter, bought a stamp and received a proof of posting from the counter clerk.  The Vilant Tracker has a App that I can use on my tablet and I was able to follow its journey to Cambridge almost in Real Time with a 1-2 hour delay.  

That evening at 1917 the letter arrived at the Werrington Sort Centre in Peterborough so I went to bed relatively confident that we were off and running.  Next morning when I was having a business breakfast with the Hunts Post business reporter at the Old bridge Hotel  I checked on the letters progress.  Hywel Barrett the reporter was most impressed.

The letter had arrived in Cambridge just after midnight and went out via Stow cum Quy for delivery at 0821. The final delivery through Chris's letter box was at 1015.  Now Chris is in Germany on business at the moment and will be arriving home on Saturday night. There is a light detector on the tracker so that when the letter is opened it will be detected by the tracking system. So I will know exactly where and when the letter has been opened.

This type of detailed and independent forensic analysis has never been possible before. There is no need for expensive infrastructure to be installed. Complex and interlocking distribution networks can be easily analysed, assured and improved - quickly and effectively.

Could this have been the first forensically tracked package in the UK providing total visibility within the normally opaque Royal mail's network. One obvious question is why the letter had to travel 80 miles when the direct distance is only 28 miles ?    18 hours to deliver compared with 30 minutes direct in the car !!  The service quality standard was certainly achieved - well done Post Office and Royal Mail but I think you will agree there is still some scope for optimisation the process and making it more efficient. 

A good challenge for the Post Office and the soon to be privatised Royal Mail

Business Innovation

Invite you to attend this FREE business information event:

Business Innovation

Wednesday 23rd October, 2013(RSVP required)

Civic Suite, Pathfinder House, St Mary’s Street, Huntingdon, PE29 3TN

8:00 - 8:30am Coffee/Breakfast/Networking

8:30 - 9:45am Guest Speakers

9:45 - 10:00am Q&A

Welcome

Cllr Jason Ablewhite (Executive Leader, HDC)

Tim Church, F2X – Busting Innovation myths

Tim, Innovation lead at F2X, will be breaking down some of the common “myths” associated with innovation and how show how any organisation can confidently address strategic challenges and drive more success through innovation.

Lynne McGregor, TSB – Government support for Innovation

Lead Technologist at the Technology Strategy Board – the UK’s Innovation agency.

Lynne will give an overview of government initiatives designed to support, aid and encourage business innovation and commercialisation.

Jenny Wilton, MAS - Other sources of funding and support

Jenny from the Manufacturing Advisory Service will highlight support and funding available from MAS for innovation.

Please RSVP to: economic.development@huntingdonshire.gov.uk

Directions and parking guidance sent out with registration confirmation

Other Partner Logos HERE

Is the "smart" military thinking about "Smart Cloud" ?

Just back home gathering my thoughts after my second and last day at the Defence Security Equipment International event #DSEI at ExCel in London Docklands.  Probably more visitors over the 4 days than the entire strength of the UK armed forces. Here you see me listening attentively to the new Chief of Air Staff - Air Chief Marshall Sir Andrew Pulford. Can you spot me in the audience (below) ?

My expectations for the second day were fairly low but in fact it turned out to be a thoroughly interesting and very educational day. My specific technology interest at the moment is "Cloud of Things" and "Smart Edge Connected Devices"  which together I call the "Smart Cloud".  My primary objective on the second day of the show was to explore peoples understanding of this concept and get some reaction.

I was able to follow excellent high level academic discussions about UAV survivability,  the future of the RAF ISTAR force and MOD procurement policy by the top decision makers in these fields.  I met with the software director behind the the Black Hornet micro UAV and saw how sensors were managed on board one of the Royal Navy frigates moored up at ExCel

A lot of the "sensor" activity that I saw was very clever and sophisticated but seemed to be primarily clustered around particular "weapon platforms" and were very Army, Navy or Air Force flavoured. My strong suspicion is that there is very limited information sharing between platforms, between services or between allies.  I am relying on my "gut feeling" to arrive at this conclusion and obviously have no specific evidence to support this conclusion.  Moving data from analogue to digital systems seems to be quite problematic. ISTAR is a very clever concept and looks to be getting its act together in terms on information sharing but I very much doubt that there is any significant tri-service data sharing between Frigates, Black Hornets or Sentinels (for instance) - feeding into one single consolidated command overview.

There seems to be a cultural "blind spot"  in the forces with regards to the world of social media, apps and cloud based infrastructure. The opportunities presented by "Smart Cloud" don't seem to be understood or recognised.  I think this is a missed opportunity - remember that the internet was first brought to the market by the US Department of Defense.  "Smart Cloud" seems to have bypassed a British military which has been stationed in rural Afghanistan and Iraq for the last decade. (Without any rural broadband)

I was extremely impressed by all the highly motivated and very articulate members of the armed forces that I met at the event.  The arms industry incorrectly focuses senior military attention on very expensive (and lucrative) platforms rather than the highly flexible and low cost "Smart Cloud" technologies that they should be looking to understand and procure. Cyber is being used as an excuse for not doing anything - why not design a "Cloud of Things" with the best built in security.

I am extremely proud of of the UK's Armed Forces and the young men and women serving our country in uniform. This feeling was fully vindicated during the two days that I spent at the event.  In an ever changing world our military must be properly equipped to protect our counties vital interests in a very dangerous world and that must mean being "Smart" and highly "Innovative"  Open Innovation between the services and small and agile micro SMEs  could be a very productive exercise. I learnt a lot from my 2 days at DSEI

#cloud  #DSEI #aviation #defence #uav

DSEI

Defence Equipment Security International

Spent my first day at the #DSEI or #DSEI2013 event at London Docklands ExCel Centre.  Absolutely massive event and highly political. As usual the Defence Ecosystem was particularly difficult to penetrate.  

For most of the day I could be found loitering in the Unmanned Systems showcase area.  There was a couple of really interesting presentations and a sense of innovation and purpose that seemed to be lacking from other parts of the show. The UAS CDC "Capability Development Centre" www.uascdc.com    and the AMS DE-RISC  "Advanced Mission Systems Demonstrations & Experimentation to Realise Integrated System Concepts" www.amsderisc.com  were really interesting. The Military used to love their TLA's "three letter acronyms" but these have now developed into ELA's "eight letter acronyms" which make the organisations almost impenetrable - often confusing themselves more than the enemy.  Will follow up with some of these really excellent speakers at these sessions. 

I found the RAF presentation team sessions really good and had an interesting discussion with the RAF Waddington contingent about the various ISTAR assets deployed there. Also got some good information about tracking explosives, LIDAR and stabilised optical sensors.

Very disappointed by the complete absence of business cards and social media - most of the people I met were not even on Linkedin. (but I have their telephone numbers so they cant escape)

Will be back at the event today and have thought through a number of strategies to try and penetrate this very difficult world.  I want to try and focus on Command and Control systems on Wednesday but this might be even harder than the UAV and sensor activity of the first day

Massive attendance but really difficult to winkle out experts who really know what they are talking about. Vast hordes of PR people, fluffy marketing types and "Gold Braid" encrusted foreign military delegations were the order of the day. Hard work but I will let you know how I get on. Might treat myself with a warship visit at the end of the day

#UAV #Aviation #Defence #DSEI

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

FSB Supports HMA Internationalisation initiative

Federation of Small Businesses supports:

INTERNATIONALISING YOUR BUSINESS EVENT

Over the last few years the exponential growth of the Internet has produced a truly global market place. More than 20% of small businesses already trade internationally. This suggests that over 400 of the FSB’s 2000 members in Cambridgeshire are involved. Come along and hear how Huntingdonshire Manufacturing Association (HMA) and its partners can help you join them.

Malcolm Lyons

Chairman of FSB Huntingdonshire

HMA International event

STUART GIBBONS TALKS ABOUT:

MANUFACTURING AND INTERNATIONALISATION

In additional to my own company Le Mark  I am very proud to be the current ‘chair’ of the Huntingdonshire Manufacturers Association , with a superb committee of proactive Huntingdonshire companies. We are all volunteers and have been strongly supported by Huntingdonshire District Council – Economic Development Team. Now to reiterate , we are volunteers and do what we do with the aim of building a stronger business region. We are all from different business sectors and are happy to give our time, passion and experience to other companies for FREE. In an effort to help them take up the challenge to become British exporters.  

Exporting really is incredibly important to all companies in this region from ‘start ups’ to growing SME’s . We just can’t keep on selling to the UK market, we have to take what we make/design/or as consultants can offer out to the rest of the world ! ALL business need to be thinking “ can we be exporters ? “  The HMA team of professional business people are doing what they do for no other reason that they are passionate about encouraging business to succeed through export in addition to their home market

So and here is the pitch , on the 3^rd October the HMA is holding an event at this regions ‘Enterprise Zone’ based at Alconbury Weald . We hope strategically the ideal location to bring together business from Huntingdon, St Neots ,Sawtry ,Peterborough and yes ….even  Cambridge !  The event is titled “ internationalising your business” and will have a superb ‘key note speaker’  Keith Lambourne MBE.

Keith is an highly experience exporter and currently Sales Director for ACO Concrete Products . Keith is also going to be offering his time for FREE to all companies that want a short  20 minute one to one FREE advisory conversation. We have a local case study company that will tell it how it was for them ‘warts and all’ , but they persevered and now have the rewards.

If  your selling your products to Plymouth why not Paris ?  If you have customers in Birmingham then why not Berlin ? No matter what your size of business then NOW is the time to start to consider making it global .

I am happy to tell you more about the HMA and hopefully encourage more local companies to get involved . If anyone would like to join us at the event to see the HMA in action you are very welcome 8.30 am start , Building 56, Alconbury Weald, Alconbury Airfield, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 4WX

to book in

Stuart Gibbons

Managing Director

Le Mark Group / Chairman HMA  

#HMA  #Trade #Huntingdonshire #Business