Founded in 1982, Shire Systems is one of the oldest established PC-based business software companies in the world and a pioneer in the development of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS).

Our original mission was to trail-blaze the development of business software for use with DOS-based personal computers - introduced to the world in 1981 courtesy of IBM and Bill Gates. Initially we specialised in the supply of bespoke systems, but our work with blue chip manufacturers soon led us to develop commercial off-the-shelf software applications for managing asset maintenance, including the purchasing and management of spare parts and materials. That system suite was called FrontLine. In 1990, responding to the introduction of new regulations framed under the United Kingdom's Health and Safety at Work Act, we launched another application, Safety 1st, enabling paperless control of portable electrical appliance testing (PAT) and other regulatory safety checks on workplace equipment. This was another pioneering ‘first to market' innovation for our company. Shire's contribution to business was recognised in 1992 with the award of the UK Electrical Industry's ‘Entrepreneur of the Year' accolade.

Our second generation of software was launched in 1998. These products preserved the popular features that were the strength of the first generation, but were completely redesigned to take full advantage of the Microsoft Windows operating system and introduce even greater functionality. To satisfy popular demand, further integrated modules were added to the FrontLine maintenance management suite to allow the control of labour man-hours, financial budgets, reactive maintenance and helpdesk activities. This provided our system users with a fully integrated set of applications to support the management of best practice asset maintenance and field service.

Since 2000, we have supported our clients' continuing quest for higher productivity in the workplace by developing a range of mobile computer applications for deployment on low cost handheld PDA computers (Personal Digital Assistants). Handhelds are used at the point of action in the field and interface directly with the main FrontLine suite back in the office. Mobile asset maintenance and materials management enables paperless systems, tighter control and lean management of operations. In addition, barcode and RFID labelling of entities eliminates data entry errors. Docking, radio and cell phone GPRS deployments are available for all these ‘FrontLine on the Move' applications.

All our products are being continuously improved. New features are continually added to satisfy the evolving needs of our system users in an ever-changing world. We are presently well underway with the development of the third generation of Shire software. We are basing our updated and new applications on Microsoft's groundbreaking .NET framework. The Volere model for ‘user requirements' gathering and system specification is being used, to ensure that these third generation systems hit the spot and delight our user community.

In 2000, an independent, nation-wide survey carried out by Benchmark Research confirmed Shire as the United Kingdom's Number 1 producer of computerised maintenance management systems. FrontLine is the system of first choice for thousands of asset maintenance, estates and facilities professionals.

Shire attained the BS EN ISO 9001:1994 quality standard accreditation in January 2001. In 2002, Shire was among the very first organisations to receive accreditation in terms of the updated, process-based standard BS EN ISO 9001:2000. Shire achieved Microsoft Partnership status in 2005 and became a Microsoft Gold Partner in 2007.

As the UK's No 1 producer of Computerised Maintenance Management Systems, you can be assured of Shire's capability and dependability. Software price leadership and support that's second to none - why search further? Why pay more?