From installing and maintaining some of Bermuda's first computer system main frames to the latest video and audio conferencing gadgets, Keith Clifton has seen it and done it all.

For the president and chief executive officer of Bermuda Technologies Limited, who has been in the Island's technology business for the past 31 years, started off working for NCR as a systems engineer to support and service mainframes in banks, before going it alone and setting up his own company which specialised in computer support and then branched out into office products and, finally, became a communications provider.

Today, the Victoria Street-based company has expanded into MobiKEY applications, which allow users to access their own desktop from any PC or laptop, while it also offers both on and off site video and audio conferencing facilities for businesses.

Mr. Clifton, who hails from Oxford in England, explained Bermuda Technologies began life as a viable alternative to the monopoly previously held by the Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC) in the installation and support of telecommunications systems.

"I initially started my own business, which was probably 22 to 23 years ago and that company grew into where we are today - we started off just doing computer support and then we got into office products such as Apples and PCs and just got to spread out and went into the technologies side and we focused on being a communications specialist," he said.

"We were the first ones to break the monopoly of the BTC, providing telephone systems and up to the line products and services - that was quite nice in those days because it was just us and BTC.

"Now, the problem is that everyone out there is selling telephone systems and have moved into the IT arena and it has become so intense.

"But, I believe companies like us are much more capable of providing that support because we are geared towards telecommunications engineering - we have always been very engineering-based and we try and become very personal with the company we are working for because of our background and support where we are able to listen to them and put the solution together."

During its time in business, Bermuda Technologies has implemented and maintained a number of telecommunications, data, voice and video communication technologies in some of the top international businesses on the Island, including the insurance and financial services sectors, according to Mr. Clifton.

The company markets and supports Iwatsu Voice Networks voice communications solutions ranging from small business systems, such as digital hybrid telephone systems, to Enterprise-CS, which combines Time-Division Multiplexing and Internet Protocol technology to provide both voice and data traffic and afford higher cost-savings, more flexible bandwidth and fewer hardware needs.

authorised and certified Polycom reseller, providing high performance and quality equipment which is both easy to use and at an affordable price, with a public conference room in its offices which can be rented by the hour and equipment that can be hired for the day or week by hotels or local companies for use in their own offices to reach not only local, but international destinations.

"The exciting thing now for me is that, 20 years ago, we brought video conferencing to the Island," said Mr. Clifton.

"We did a presentation down at Grotto Bay Hotel and the room was full of interested people - but the trouble was the system cost $60,000 and it was a big unit that sat in the corner and every year since then I have said 'This is the year it is going to be readily available to the customer' and it has finally happened.

"I think it is about the quality and cost effectiveness it offers, but also, after 9/11 people became more concerned about their executives travelling abroad and realised it could save them time as well - you could lose a week's work flying to and from and doing an interview abroad, compared to the efficiency offered by video conferencing.

"You could come in here and rent the facilities for an hour and do an interview or even buy a system from us and do it yourself.

"What is to me very interesting, is that now we have got quite a good mix between people renting it out here and having their own system - we are finding now that those companies who have bought the gear in from places like Canada 10 years ago and have played around and put it out of sync, so their systems are not working that well and they come here and ask if we will give them the support.

"But it is not just video conferencing, it is audio and data as well - you can plug a laptop in and do a presentation at the same time as you are holding the conference and it is so easy to do."

And, Mr. Clifton believes his company is going to have to keep reinventing itself just to keep up to date with the latest technologies and changing trends in the marketplace.

"I see us as having to reinvent ourselves at an ever-increasing rate," he said.

"That is where it is going in terms of the whole communications industry - it is just drastic how much it is changing.

"I get my real high from working on all this latest stuff and it is an exponential change in all areas from the MobiKEY to video conferencing and so forth.

"Everything generally is becoming more miniaturised, more powerful, cheaper and easier to look after."

Meanwhile, he sees one of the biggest challenges facing the industry as a whole is the ever decreasing price of products available from abroad and the impact that will have on the Bermuda market.

"I think one of the biggest problems for all of us in the supply of consumer products is the fact that they are becoming so cheap now and people will travel of course and they are going to pick them up overseas," he said.

"What I really have to do is to try and sell everything now at US cost or below to keep it of interest to people.

"For us, here in Bermuda, we have got to be educating the youngsters in the area of being computer savvy and understanding operating systems as well, because there is still going to be a major need for this stuff."

To find out more about Bermuda Technologies Ltd. and the products and services it offers, contact 296 7000, email info[AT]bermudatechnologies.bm or visit the website at www.bermudatechnologies.bm