Product Business of the Year 2008

Business description: Kell Systems pioneered the design and manufacture of portable server environments (PSEs), a complete cabinet solution for the deployment of servers in the office. Founded in 2003 by Tim Walsh and his wife Sara Jones, it is the only company in the world of its kind and its products are exported to countries throughout the globe.

Judges’ comments: Kell Systems has pioneered the design and manufacture of Portable Server Environments (PSEs), the cabinets that enable organisations to store their servers and network hardware directly in the office. Kell PSEs are a very real, self-contained alternative to building computer rooms, the cabinets combining extreme noise reduction with very high thermal capacity.

The product really appealed to the judges, as did the fact that they are manufactured in Kell Systems’ factory in Somerset. Husband and wife team, Tim Walsh and Sarah Jones founded the company in 2004 and traded from their home for the first two years with turnover growing year on year with almost all of 2007 profits being reinvested in rapid growth. Realising it was nearly impossible to conventionally “sell” a product to an IT Manager they use a variety of channels to communicate the PSEs’ strong value proposition. The latest is the “Kellcast”, a 10 minute live interactive webcast demonstration each week delivered by Tim.

www.kellsystems.co.uk