Bamboo appoints new Director of IoT
Bamboo Technology Group Ltd the leading provider of managed ICT services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Raymond Kay in a brand new role as Director of IoT.
Industry veteran Kay boasts more than 40 years’ experience in technology, comms and connectivity, including 23 years at Vodafone Global Enterprise where he was Head of M2M/IoT UK.
Having trained in electrical and electronic engineering, he began his career at Racal, moving swiftly from an initial technical role into product management. After a brief spell working as a Senior European Product Manager for Philips Electronics (formerly Burle Industries USA and Ireland) Kay returned to Racal and Vodafone in 1995.
It was this move, working with the Paknet data network on projects to speed up electronic payments within retail and innovative, secure communications for the intruder alarm market, that would shape Kay’s future and secure his role as a pioneer within M2M and then IoT. As he explains “What we were working on was, to all intents and purposes, M2M in a different guise – an early front runner really.”
Fast forward ten years and the growth trends in mobile data combined with Kay’s experience resulted in him being tasked with creating an M2M team at Vodafone and managing the UK M2M line of business.
“The early days of M2M were certainly exciting and interesting times” explains Kay. “I started with a very small team and we enjoyed an agility that derived from the speed of change and innovation with new markets, new products and new opportunities almost daily. As a result, we grew from a handful of people in the UK to a team of hundreds of IoT professionals globally.
“The market is constantly changing, but that speed of innovation and the opportunity IoT offers everyone, from entrepreneurs and start-ups to corporates, remains the same today.”
This is the second key IoT hire at Bamboo this year. Kay comes closely behind IoT Solutions Consultant Chris Damon, who joined the team in March. Damon’s career in telecoms spans 30 years, and similarly, much of that time was spent within M2M, including two spells with Kay at Vodafone.
Damon and Kay have also been reunited with another M2M specialist, Bamboo Director of Sales Joanna Cracknell.
Kay continues: “Bamboo is an ambitious business with a commitment to growth – and IoT is an integral element of their strategy. I am really looking forward to working with Joanna, Chris and the whole team to shape, drive and grow this area of the business, whilst helping our customers and partners benefit not just from IoT connectivity but end to end solutions.”
Joanna Cracknell, Director of Sales at Bamboo comments: “I am delighted to welcome Ray to Bamboo. Together with Chris, I have been able to put together an IoT team of people that can build on and leverage Bamboo’s heritage in mobile connectivity and service provision. We have shared a fairly unique experience within the sector and it’s wonderful to be working together again to deliver a new IoT strategy for our direct customers and our partner channel that focuses on products and solutions created for the SME sector and beyond.”
Lorrin White, MD of Bamboo also comments: “Ray’s appointment further demonstrates the importance of M2M and IoT to the business and our ability to lead the way in helping our customers to embrace new technologies and support their strategies for digital transformation.”
