Andrew Riddell

Managing Director

BSc (1st Class Hons), Physics (University of Canterbury)
PhD, Physics (University of Canterbury)

Andrew has worked in a number of roles within system testing and customer service within Allied Telesis. Working now as Managing Director, he is responsible for all aspects of the day to day operation of ATL-NZ; product development, staff welfare, customer support and financial management. He is also closely involved with the customer support team in their pre-sales and post-sales work.

Andrew says...

"The couple of two-year spells that I have spent living overseas have enabled to me to realise that I would not want to live anywhere else. We are incredibly lucky to live in NZ - low population density, stable society, and thousands of square miles of undamaged natural environments. Christchurch is big enough to have plenty of facilities, cultural events, work opportunities, etc, but small enough to avoid big-city problems (traffic congestion, long commuting times, urban decay' etc). The trees and gardens of Christchurch make this a very pleasant place to be.

"I've been at Allied Telesis, in its various incarnations for over 15 years now and in that time I have been very lucky to have gone through with a company from its small beginnings, through its growth, and on to its successful integration into a multi-national. Added to that, the company was right up in the forefront of a rapidly developing industry - data networking - that was having a significant impact on the whole world. It has been a really unique opportunity to be part of that.

"Moreover, we have been very fortunate, for a long time, to maintain a culture in which everyone strongly believed in what they were doing and had a real pride in the products that we created. This enabled us to face up to, and work through, a number of very difficult technical and organisational problems, which was greatly satisfying.

"Experienced employees have always been quick to recognise, and foster, skilled and talented newcomers. We also have maintained a culture of valuing the knowledge and experience we have collectively accumulated and recognising that it is this accumulated, and nurtured, capability and experience that has enabled us to remain strong and effective in the marketplace. Being part of this culture, being able to contribute to our accumulating pool of capability, and also being able to draw from it, has been a wonderful experience. Being able to build good products is great, but to build a long-lasting, ever-improving, product-development capability is even better.

"Also, for people in CSG, there is another special pleasure about the job - namely to develop a network of strong working relationships with other Allied Telesis (and customers') engineers all around the world."