It’s hard to imagine Ashley Ralph as a Private in the Australian Army. Quick with a joke, the energetic 40 year old is a man on a mission and says his early days in the army has helped make him what he is today.

“I started my working career in the army as an electrical apprentice. I joined up as a 17 year old and travelled everywhere for seven years, ranked as a Private in the Engineers’ division.

“I would wire up all the electrical, lighting and data for temporary headquarters. It was never boring and I’d do it all over again.”
Leaving the army as a 24 year old, Ashley joined well known Adelaide electrical contracting firm of Sharpe Electrical. After 18 months he started his own contracting business.

“For 12 years, I did a lot of commercial office fit-outs. It was a great transition for me. The army gave me the training and discipline to put my head down and with that attitude I gained the understanding of how to run a business.

“I always used Clipsal in those days. I respected the brand and always thought of what it would be like to work for the company.”
Ashley’s energy and discipline were attractive to Clipsal and he was quickly employed as a general sales rep. Promotions soon followed including builders’ representative and then commercial sales manager in 2007.

In 2008, a regional general manager role emerged in Tasmania. Singled out for the role, Ashley, his wife and three sons, soon found themselves in Launceston for two years before returning to Adelaide to take on the role of general manager of Datacomms.

“Since taking on the role in January, I’ve been travelling around the country meeting all of the Clipsal endorsed partners (installers) and getting a feel for the market.”

Ashley says the industry is in good shape.

“The Federal Government’s $16.2 billion school stimulus programme was great for Clipsal and the data industry. There are a lot of new science labs and language centres with Clipsal data products in them.”

On the subject of fibre optic and the National Broadband Network, Ashley says that the government has set itself an incredible challenge but that the roll-out will happen and that the industry needs to be ready.

“This is an enormous logistical operation and this country will need the contractors to hook this up.”

He believes that installers and contractors should be looking at ways to add value to the roll-out.

“Once fibre gets to the house, we can offer home networking systems such as Clipsal StarServe. Homeowners can then distribute and stream downloads as well as IPTV to all TVs in the home without the need for separate set top boxes.”

Looking to the future, Ashley announced some important changes to the Datacomms product range including new Cat 6A and 7A (40 gig) shielded end to end solutions.

“The industry is asking for these solutions, particularly in hospitals and commercial projects.”

Adding value is important to Ashley and says this is what makes Clipsal’s Actassi offer so attractive to the data installer.

“A lot of manufacturers say they’re about quality but we are the only ones that back it up with both national distribution and 180 Clipsal reps Australia wide with on the road service. I used to be one of them.

“We can call on the data installer to resolve any issues on the field and we have the numbers to assist with the spec on any data project.

“We are also backed by our parent company, Schneider Electric so we are delivering the best and latest technology from around the world.”

Ashley says the Clipsal’s Lifetime warranty it offers to endorsed partners on their installation projects is great added value.

“The warranty covers all product including cable, cabinets, patch panels and patch leads. It is unmatched in the data communications market.”

When not guiding Clipsal’s data range of products, Ashley enjoys competing in iron man competitions and trains regularly to prepare for them. Ashley has even tackled long distance cycling, riding from Brisbane to Adelaide, covering the 3000km ride in three weeks, to raise money for charity. When asked how he manages to fit all of this into a demanding job and busy family life, he says:

“Whether it’s achieving a personal goal or a business goal of offering customers the best solutions available, you have to be single minded. That’s the attitude I learned in the army and bring to everything I do.”