40 Years Making Systems That Cannot Fail
Four decades in control systems engineering — nuclear, defence, industrial control, Olympic-level athletics timing, live broadcast. Now applying that engineering rigour to AI integration for organisations where the consequences of getting it wrong are serious, not just inconvenient.
I work with organisations where technology decisions carry real weight. Board and C-suite engagements where engineering rigour and commercial judgement need to operate at the same level.
Practical AI adoption for complex operational environments. Understanding where AI adds genuine value, where it introduces risk, and how to engineer the difference. Not hype — deployment reality.
Design and review of control systems, SCADA architecture, safety-critical software, and real-time systems. Environments where failure modes matter more than feature lists.
Machine-to-system interfaces, sensor systems, robotics integration, and dedicated technical IT. Making disparate systems work together reliably in production — not just in the demo.
Workflow-integrated UX — examining what people are actually being asked to do and delivering interfaces that provide visible benefit without interfering with how they work.
EU AI Act readiness, AI governance frameworks, demonstrable controls for regulated environments. Compliance as a byproduct of doing it right, not as a bolt-on afterthought.
Independent assessment of technical architecture, AI capabilities, and engineering quality for investment decisions, acquisitions, or board-level governance reviews.
Building an engineering framework for safe, professional-level AI-assisted development in mission-critical environments.
Consulting engagements applying AI to complex operational environments. Specialising in organisations where the consequences of getting it wrong are serious — not just inconvenient.
Advanced manufacturing, technical IT and dedicated systems, systems integration, machine-to-system interfaces, robotics, sensor systems, business process reengineering, and workflow-integrated UX.
Dual-stream encoding, adaptive video delivery, real-time event detection, and precision timing infrastructure for major international athletics events. Millisecond precision for a global audience.
Control and monitoring systems across nuclear, defence, and industrial environments. SCADA architecture, PLC integration, safety-critical software. The domains that define what mission-critical actually means.
After 40 years in control systems engineering, I'm now an AI enthusiast. But there's a but.
I've spent four decades building control systems that couldn't fail — chemical plants, steel mills, defence, nuclear, Olympic-level athletics timing. Domains where unreliable doesn't mean inconvenient. It means something fails that cannot fail.
In mid-2025 I started taking AI seriously. I haven't written a single line of code since. AI is the best-read junior I've ever had on my team — extraordinarily fast, its knowledge surfaces surprises even for me, remarkably accurate.
But perfection in AI is asymptotic. We will never get there. The right answer is not to wait for the perfect AI — it's to assume AI isn't perfect, and engineer systems so that it doesn't matter.
That conviction led me to found Telaxis — but the consulting work continues for organisations that need engineering rigour applied to their AI strategy today.
The Standard
40 years of engineering discipline. Applied to every engagement.
Whether you're exploring AI integration for a complex environment, need independent technical assessment, or want to discuss what engineering rigour actually means in practice — reach out.
Feedback always welcome.
Even the offensive kind has its uses.