THE team at Chandler's Ford IT service company QIC Systems has welcomed a highly experienced engineer in order to meet the demands of a rapidly growing client base.

Tony Smart started his career as an electronic and electrical engineer, achieving his City & Guilds, BTEC and HND certification and working for ten years as a test engineer for Plessey Avionics in West Leigh in Havant.

Tony then decided to take a change in career direction and retrained in computing by studying BTEC and HND qualifications. He wrote automated test programmes for the MoD and won a contract to support the IT systems of the Compass Group in Redditch, near Birmingham.

After a year as a full-time programmer for Qgate in Fareham, Tony was offered the opportunity to lead a team of technicians in supporting the accounts department at IBM.

Tony successfully managed the move of this team's work to offices in Hungary and spent time abroad advising on technical solutions and web development strategy.

Tony's annual contract was constantly renewed at IBM, but after seven years, he made the decision to leave the international company in order to take the position of senior support engineer at QIC Systems.

"People often comment on my move from a large blue chip company to an independent business," said Tony. "I had reached a point in my career where I wanted to be part of a team and was attracted to QIC, not only for the potential in my personal career, but for the firm's emphasis on service and support of a wide variety of clients and projects."

Since his recent appointment at QIC, Tony has already carried out programming, installations and health checks for IT networks, and customisation of QIC's specialist client management software, Maximizer.

"We are very proud and excited to have grown QIC to the point of needing new client service staff," said Matthew Wood, managing director of QIC Systems Ltd.

"Tony's wide variety of experience and expertise has already proved a great asset to the company."

Born in Cowplain, near Portsmouth, Tony is busy with his fiance making the final arrangements for their wedding in June, but when he has time, he enjoys outdoor pursuits such as walking, cycling and camping.