Talk the talk

Garret Lloyd, director of IT and telephony company Diacom, talks to David Clerkin.

I understand you worked on the IT and telecoms system in Croke Park. Please tell us about the project.

Our brief was to supply Croke Park with an integrated voice and data solution. Croke Park is not just a simple stadium - it encompasses the GAA head office, the stadium authority’s head office, and bodies representing ladies’ football and hurling. It is also a conference centre, concert venue, museum and host to bars and restaurants.

What challenges did you need to address?

The challenge was the system must provide high-quality voice and data connections to over 800 positions in the stadium. It needed to work like a mini exchange, providing all the services that a small town and business would need.

The major difference from other projects was that the system was made up of three locations, where each was self-sufficient.

If a major disaster was to happen to one or two of the locations, the system would continue to work.

What other clients do you have? What have you done for them?

City West Hotel is a similar system to Croke Park. The venue is also very like a small town, with over 1,000 guest rooms, convention centres, administration offices, golf and health centres, bars and restaurants.

The hotel is more then double the size of Croke Park in terms of the number of communications’ ports needed. Other clients include A&L Goodbody Solicitors, Greencore, Dulux Paints and the Law Society of Ireland.

What do clients tend to look for when they put a contract out for tender?

Major factors in a tender relate to value for money - cost savings, increased productivity and efficiency - allowing a client the ability to perform a task they could not have otherwise achieved.

Future proofing is also vital - they need to be assured that the product has a healthy life cycle in front of it.

Please give us some background about the company.

We set up in 1988. We have offices in Dublin and Cork and service centres in Sligo and Limerick. The company employs 35 people.

How competitive is the market for your services? How do you differentiate yourself from rivals?

There are fewer than half a dozen companies of sufficient size and technical experience in the marketplace to handle large-scale telecoms projects. Where Diacom differs is that it is large and capable enough to supply solutions, but is of a size that has the ability to be more flexible than our competitors.

How have you found the market over the past year? Has spending on IT and telecoms recovered after the post-2000 slowdown?

2004 was a record year for Diacom. We completed major projects for the Coombe Hospital, state laboratories and the Galway and Killarney Ryan Hotels.

There’s no doubt that the sector has recovered since the post-2000 slowdown, but it’s unlikely there will be a repeat of the enormous spending seen during the dotcom bubble.