The Team
Here is your chance to get to know us a little better, and to put faces to the voices at the end of the phone. Even though every project has a Project Manager who is your primary point of contact for the life-cycle of our engagement with you, there are also a few others you may stumble across during your time with us.
Ian Willats
Ian has more than twenty years experience in developing real-time and embedded software, including consultancy and project management, which continue to be his main technical roles at Pebble Bay. Ian's focus on attention to detail, combined with the determination to achieve efficient and practical results, has guided the evolution of Pebble Bay's processes and infrastructure which underpin the running of each project we carry out.
Ian holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University, having achieved first class honours. His early career included development of software for large-scale process control systems and for high-speed packaging systems - in the latter role he designed an innovative approach to implementing software "gearboxes", allowing multiple DC servomotors to replace mechanical cogs and cams, resulting in lighter, more flexible and less complex machines.
Ian joined Real-Time Products (RTP) in 1990 when it was a three-person company, and had a fundamental role in RTP's growth until its sale to Telelogic in 2000 at which point Ian was Principal Engineer, being responsible for many of the engineering and pre-sale processes used by the company as well undertaking and managing development projects. While at RTP Ian designed and developed a complete implementation of the SCSI II protocol for Wind River's VxWorks RTOS, which is still shipped today as part of Wind River's standard product.
From RTP Ian moved to Wind River in 2000 as the Professional Services Manager for the UK region. While in this role Ian contributed several innovations to the processes used by the global Wind River Services team as well as chairing their software engineering working group. Ian's skills as a project manager were developed by running various challenging projects, including one completed successfully for a major aerospace company, for which the project team was distributed over several countries.
Having been a co-founder of Pebble Bay in 2005, Ian continues to manage and deliver projects for customers in the industrial, defence, and consumer equipment industries and provides consultancy and training on various aspects of embedded software development.
John Efstathiades
John is a very experienced consultant and software engineer specialising in the development of real-time and embedded software, with a proven track record of delivering high-quality software and services to customers. He works as an individual consultant, project manager or part of a larger development team, and frequently liaises with senior management and decision makers to understand business needs and to ensure projects are completed to our customers' satisfaction.
After attaining his Joint Honours BSc in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from Aston University in 1989, John worked for several years as a member of embedded software development teams for companies in the defence and telecommunication industry. In 1995 John joined Real-Time Products (RTP), an RTOS distributor and consultancy company, as a senior consultant where he carried out several major projects including development of a V5 protocol stack for a major telecommunication equipment company.
John joined Wind River's UK services team in 2001 and during his five-year stay with Wind River became Engineering Development Manager for the UK and Nordic regions. During this time John also delivered a wide range of consulting, training and engineering projects to Wind River's customers in the UK and Europe, primarily based on Wind River's VxWorks RTOS. One of these projects involved prototyping and developing a bespoke low-latency, high-throughput USB host stack for use in a Formula 1 racing car.
Also a co-founder of Pebble Bay, John continues to deliver high-quality consultancy and software development projects, now using a wider range of technologies including Linux, VxWorks and other commercial RTOSs. John has successfully managed major development projects for a wide range of customers in industries including defence and office equipment .
We also have a pool of long-trusted and known contractors, each with their own specialities and areas of expertise. We call on them on an as-needed basis to ensure we deliver on time, on budget and to the highest spec possible.
To find out more, do get in touch here.