Since its formation in 1992 by partners David Newstead and Barry Maxey the Westmoor Road business has grown into the region’s largest communications provider operating across Scotland and the north of England.
“A lot of hard work, excellent staff and helping customers to take advantage of today’s amazing technologies have helped to put us where we are today,” said Mr Newstead, Managing Director.
The company now employs 32 people, including engineers, managerial and administrative staff.
Astonishing developments in communications technologies have transformed the way in which we all live and work since Online Systems began trading, explained Mr Newstead.
“When I started out the mobile phone was the size of a brick and had a battery life of a few hours if you were lucky,” said Mr Newstead.
Both the private and public sectors’ operations would grind to a snail pace without modern telecoms technology.
“There have been massive improvements, allowing us to connect multi-sites for voice and data at a fraction of the cost than before - helping businesses to stay competitive,” said Mr Newstead.
“Nowadays, everyone is heavily dependent on modern communications and the world is a very different place than it was in 1992.
“The next big thing promises to be Unified Communication which combines voice, data, media, video, telephone and broadband.
“The lines between Smartphones and tablet PCs are also becoming increasingly imperceptible.
“In all the years I have been in this business I have never known a time of such advances and technological innovations. There does not seem to be a ceiling.”
Mr Newstead said that installing the latest communications technologies could help businesses reduce overheads and boost their prospects during the current economic difficulties.
“Society, communities and businesses would have to rely on hand-delivered post and personal meetings - which would be incredibly time-consuming and costly - if we had to go back to the old days,” he explained.