Bridgeworks has wind in its sails. The Lymington-based, Wide-Area Network (WAN) Acceleration firm recently won the ‘Data Centre ICT Networking Innovation of the Year’ at the DCS Awards, near St. Paul’s in London on 25th May 2023. Not for the first time too. The company has won this award over several consecutive years.
The company’s solutions mitigate the effects of latency and packet loss, which slow down Wide Area Networks (WANs), such as the Internet, to accelerate data flow. The tech uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data parallelisation to ensure that encrypted data can travel over WANs unhindered. This is also without organisations having to invest in new infrastructure to increase bandwidth – a strategy that often has little impact on network bandwidth and speed.
Backing the next generation
Adding wind to its sails is the David Trossell’s support for the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. He is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Bridgeworks, and a keen sailor with a community outlook and an eye on the next generation. That’s not just in sailing terms, but also with regard to the company’s support for the Brockenhurst College STEM Awards, promoting the next generation of IT engineers.
Gybing back to sailing, Bridgeworks also sponsors several of the Club’s sails. A spokesperson from the Club explains why sail training is important: “Children are coming in and out of our programmes all the time, as they become old enough to participate and then finally go onto college or work, so the aim is to have a solid and repeatable programme.”
“The hope is that they come to love being on the water and enjoy learning the skills in advance. Those with a competitive spirit may choose to race but, above all, the desire is that a love (and respect) is engendered for the water. It’s not just the sailing, in this risk-averse world the young sailors out on the water take decisions and then deal with the results. A lifetime benefit for living a life.”
By being able to take risks, the children can learn more about how to navigate life: its joys, its triumphs, its peaks, and its troughs. Like a yacht, they can learn how to ride the waves, learn to lead and to learn to work as a team. “Many of the skills that children need in life can be learned by sailing dinghies or larger yachts, and this includes the value of being part of a team to achieve results, as well as how to use your wits as either teams or individuals to be competitive”, says Trossell.
The RLYC Programme
The Royal Lymington Yacht Club’s spokesperson adds: “The base programme is there to achieve these aims, but obviously knowledge, teaching skills and the technology involved in the dinghies is changing and improving and to keep abreast of this takes time, money and effort. The programme goes on week by week – even in the winter – but each summer, a Junior Regatta is a highlight to bring everyone together for fun and to allow the skills learnt to be put into practice.”
“The various fleets in the regatta allow for the fun sailors to sail in company in gentle competition, whilst the diehard racers are in the racing fleets. In any programme, a summit to strive for is beneficial and the Junior Regatta provides this for the Royal Lymington Y C Juniors.”
The aim of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club’s community programme, which is called Wednesday Junior Sailing (WJS) – and which is now in its fourth decade – is to permit any child of 8 or more years old in the local community to learn to sail using the boats provided by the club and its sponsors. Bridgeworks is but one of those sponsors backing the club’s junior regatta and Wednesday Junior Sailing. The company’s sponsorship has helped with both boats and training to the extent that the sailing now also occurs on Monday and Friday evenings. Many of the pupils also become instructors, and now train their peers. The Club therefore considers working with local companies like Bridgeworks is essential, helping to make the waters around Lymington thrive.
“Worthwhile and thought-provoking”
The Club’s spokesperson explains: “Working with Bridgeworks has been both worthwhile and thought-provoking. They’ve picked up on the areas we needed help and then offered assistance that we could adapt to suit changing requirements, such as with equipment and training. “They also understood that we’re members and volunteers. So, our relationships are based on good will, which is not always the environment you would find in a work situation. They’ve been unfazed, but understanding when things have not happened as quickly as they or we would like.”
“Bridgeworks have been appreciative when we’ve been able to do something for them, we understand that a picture of 4 boats, under spinnaker going around the Bridgeworks buoy in the Solent, has pride of place in their boardroom.”
Trossell therefore concludes that he is very proud of the work the Royal Lymington Yacht Club does, and of Bridgeworks’ association with it. He is also particularly delighted with his latest award-win. For Bridgeworks, a spinnaker is up, and the company is sailing ahead. With that success, Trossell intends to bring the local community and the next generation with him.
