Introduction

Thorcom designs and manufactures mobile data and vehicle location products and solutions for the Public Safety, Public Transport and Utilities sectors for the UK, Europe and Worldwide. Thorcom is based in Worcester, UK and employs ten full-time staff. The company is self-financed and has been profitable since its launch. Thorcom is an ISO 9001:2000 company.


Thorcom History

The company was founded in 1988 as a small family business called ‘Thor Electronics’ by Mike Tubby (the now Technical Director) and Jack Tubby (Managing Director). In 1991 it changed its name to Thorcom Systems Limited, to reflect its widening market interests and act as foundation for growth into bigger projects. Thorcom's early products were radio data transmission modems, initially widely used in the offshore survey marketplaces which were buoyant at that time.

Thorcom moved from the manufacture of low volume, high value, products aimed at the specialized offshore market to more generalized mobile data applications.In 1992 Thorcom won a large contract to supply British Gas (West Midlands) with radio modem equipment and software for the BGWM Mobile Data project operating on their Marconi supplied MPT1327 trunked PMR radio network.In 1994 (in conjunction with our partner Vivista), Thorcom developed the first wide-area non-polled PMR mobile data and AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) solution, aimed in particular at the emergency services, and especially optimised for Ambulance Services.

This was first implemented for SEWAT (South East Wales Ambulance Trust), and subsequently rolled out to 15 further Ambulance Trusts over the next 10 years, and many UK and forms the core communications bearer for several European RTPIS (Real Time Passenger Information Systems) Bus Projects.


Application Building

In order to support our partners, and satisfy a growing number of end users who wish to purchase directly from the manufacturer, Thorcom has developed a series of user applications which connect straight onto the underlying Thorcom products and communications bearers.

These include simple PC based messaging and mapping applications, right through to comprehensive mobile data applications - bringing very high levels of in-vehicle computing functionality to operators of mission critical services, and web based mapping applications for multiple users.


Bearer Support

Starting in 1999, and still continuing today, the number of data capable wireless bearer options has expanded. In particular, in the sectors in which Thorcom’s customers operate, TETRA and GPRS bearers offer new opportunities for projects needing very high levels of security and national coverage. Another Thorcom partner, O2 Airwave, run the national public safety TETRA network and together Thorcom and Airwave rolled out the worlds first TETRA based mobile data and vehicle location for an Ambulance service.

For non public safety users who are unable to use the TETRA network, or those who need a very low-cost bearer, then ‘GPRS’ (the high bandwidth service available on GSM mobile phone networks) is a very good option. In particular, Thorcom supports telematics and AVL solutions on GPRS which are scalable


Thorcom Today

As well as maintaining its full range of wide-area PMR based solutions, Thorcom is committed to growing its digital bearer system support across a wide range of TETRA and GPRS users. These include a wide range of products and applications from basic messaging services, through to telematics applications, up to complete mobile data solutions.


Employment opportunities

Thorcom has vacancies from time to time for highly motivated individuals who are interested in working in a small and focused team in the fast moving world of wireless data communications.