Terry Matthews

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Sir Terence Hedley Matthews OBE, P.Eng., F.I.E.E. F R Eng (born 1943 in Newport, Wales) is a serial high tech entrepreneur, and Wales' first billionaire.

Matthews has founded several dozen companies in the United Kingdom and Canada in the high tech communications field. His most notable successes so far have been with Mitel (which he sold to British Telecom), and Newbridge Networks which was acquired for seven billion dollars by Alcatel.

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[edit] Biography

After an apprenticeship at British Telecom's research lab at Martlesham Heath, Matthews left the UK and joined MicroSystems International, a chipmaking operation affiliated with Northern Electric (now Nortel Networks), in Ottawa, Canada.

Matthews' first enterprise was started in collaboration with fellow British émigré and Microsystems employee Michael Cowpland as a way to raise seed money for future enterprises they had planned. The pair intended to import and sell electric lawnmowers built in the UK – Mitel, formed in 1972, was a contraction of "Mike and Terry's Electric Lawnmowers". This first endeavour was a fiasco; the shipping company carrying the first batch lost the container. [1] When the lawnmowers finally arrived, the ground was covered with snow in the Canadian winter and no one would buy them. Matthews later said "That taught me a key lesson — the importance of timing. The shipping company lost the lawnmowers! By the time they showed up no-one wanted them, as you can't cut grass when it's covered with snow."[2]

Mitel became a technology consultancy company run from home to the various companies around Ottawa's emerging high-tech district. Mitel's clients included the National Research Council, the Communications Research Centre, and a handful of pioneering start-ups including SHL Systemhouse and Quasar Systems (now Cognos). [3]

[edit] Mitel

Obtaining funding by other means from both banks and BNR, the two developed a telephony DTMF tone receiver based on Cowpland's Ph.D. thesis. This was a major advance in the technology since they were able to sell receivers at a fraction of the cost of competing versions, while gaining returns of 1000%. Additionally, Mitel later became a chip manufacturer with the acquisition of the Silek foundry in Bromont Quebec.

Later the pair realized that the then new technology of microprocessors and other semiconductor devices would make a similar change in the market for small PBXs. The SX200 PBX launched to immense success, being cheaper to purchase, quicker to install and far more functional. Mitel became one of the more successful manufacturers of small PBX systems and telecom semiconductors in the world, floating on the New York Stock Exchange in 1981.

[edit] Newbridge Networks

In 1985, British Telecom bought Mitel. Cowpland would later form the company that became Corel and Matthews founded Newbridge Networks in 1986.

Matthews drove Newbridge to become a leader in the worldwide data networking industry, manufacturing data communications products, especially ATM devices and routers. In 2000 the company employed more than 6,500 employees with recorded FY 1999 revenue of $1.8 billion. Later in 2000, Newbridge was acquired by Alcatel.[4] Matthews' personal stake in Newbridge was valued at over a billion dollars, and as a result of the transaction he became the largest single shareholder in Alcatel.

[edit] Return to Mitel

In an ironic turn, he reacquired the Mitel PBX business and company name in 2000. He has invested heavily ($600 million by 2006) in Mitel to turn it into a broadband communications company. The company has made significant investments in enterprise Voice over IP telephony technology. Mitel's manufacturing business was spun off as Breconridge.

On April 27, 2005, March Networks, another of his start-ups, went IPO. This venture was the first successful high tech IPO in the Ottawa area since 1999.

[edit] Other businesses

  • Convedia – a maker of VoIP/IMS Media Servers, which was acquired by RadiSys in 2006 for $US 105 Million
  • Ubiquity – a manufacturer of SIP Application Servers, which has floated and is now in the process of being purchased by Avaya
  • Newport Networks -- a maker of large carrier-grade session border controllers
  • Wesley Clover Corporation – Matthews is the founder and Chairman of the investment group with offices in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, with investments in telecommunications, real estate and leisure
  • Celtic House Venture Partners – Matthews is the founder of the early stage technology venture capital firm with offices in Canada and the United Kingdom. Celtic House invests in companies that specialize in telecommunications, storage, networking and Internet infrastructure. One of the first deals was $4.5M for 19% in Skystone Systems, which returned $17.0M after the company was sold to Cisco four months later for $89.0M [5]
  • Kanata Research Park - Matthews company which manages some of the land and buildings in the Kanata North Business Park [6]

In addition, Matthews serves on the Board of Directors for a number of high technology companies and is Chairman or serves on the Board of Directors of DragonWave, Bridgewater Systems, Solace Systems and NewHeights Software.

[edit] Wales

Although Matthews emigrated to Canada as a young man, he takes a considerable interest in his home country and spends much time there. One of his ventures is the Celtic Manor Resort, a leisure complex in Newport, chosen to host the Ryder Cup golf tournament in 2010. The original Celtic Manor Hotel was formerly a maternity home and is Matthews' birthplace. Matthews also owns the Brookstreet Resort in Ottawa, Canada.

Matthews bought Celtic Manor in 1980, ploughing £100M into the project. Firstly the 19th century Manor House was renovated, while in 1991 plans were unveiled to develop two new golf courses and a convention centre between the manor and the River Usk. Matthews had become friends with golf course architect, the late Robert Trent Jones Snr, whose family roots were in Aberystwyth. Work began on the Roman Road course in 1992, named after the main route connecting the fortress of Caerleon with the town of Caerwent, which crosses the land. In 1994 the 4,000-yard Coldra Woods course was started, as well as the £10m golf clubhouse hotel. Interior design was completed by Patrick Goff of Goff Associates, the son of Welshman Roy Goff, who managed the site when it was the nursing home in which Matthews was born. The Celtic Manor was Hotel of the Year in 2002, and won two European Design Awards in 2001 - one for Goff Associates, and one for its spa from the International Spa Association.[7] Matthews commented that: ""I think the resort can act as a magnet to draw new investment into Wales from across the UK and overseas. I did my best to put up a building that you can see from the West End of London and I didn't come far short of it!".[8]

[edit] Private life

Matthews is intensely protective of his family. His son Owen is CEO of a Matthews company, NewHeights Software. [9]

He was awarded the OBE in 1994, and was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours List (June 2001).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Craig Bailey on Microsoft: INSPIRATION: Sir Terry Matthews
  2. ^ The Big Interview: Sir Terry Matthews - ZDNet UK
  3. ^ The Morphing of Ottawa
  4. ^ Alcatel buys Newbridge - Feb. 23, 2000
  5. ^ LaBarge Weinstein - "The Deal That Changed The Rules... and Transformed Ottawa" (Ottawa Citizen - SEPT 25, 2000)
  6. ^ Kanata Research Park
  7. ^ http://www.hoteldesigns.net HotelDesigns Review archive
  8. ^ http://www.celticmanor.hcareers.co.uk/
  9. ^ http://www.newheights.com/media_center/media_cov/09_20_2005/

[edit] External links

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