The dynamic virtual queuing concept arose because of a wait in a line by Leonard Sim and his family in a Florida theme park in the 90's. The ride had mechanical problems, which meant that the almost 2 hour wait was only a waste of time.

Lo-Q plc, formerly The Tellurian Devices Company Limited, was formed in August 2000. It completed an IPO that Autumn to fund the first large scale Lo-Q installation in its first park. Completion of a second round of funding enabled a further five parks to be installed in 2002.

Lo-Q plc is directed by an experienced board supported by a strong management team and dedicated staff. Our headquarters and development labs are in the Smith Centre high technology campus near Henley-on-Thames UK where we employ a team of highly skilled engineers carrying out our hardware, software and systems design. We have our USA headquarters in Lithia Springs, Georgia, where support, financial and installation staff are based.

Lo-Q has extensive patents or patents pending in Europe, USA, Hong Kong and Japan.  We are investigating other markets for our technology.

The Lo-Q Guests Services System was developed and prototyped at Thorpe Park, near London, UK, from 1998, where we attracted huge amounts of media interest.

The first installation went live in March 2001 in the Six Flags Over Georgia park near Atlanta. In the summer of 2002, the company added 5 further parks, one of which was subsequently sold by Six Flags. The popularity of our system grew in these parks as the guests became more used to the benefits of the Q-bot.

In 2006, the company announced an updated system - VQ²º²º - which operated in two further Six Flags parks as well as in Dollywood, for the 2007 season. Dollywood is located in Tennessee near the home town of Dolly Parton.

Our first European park, LEGOLAND® Windsor, went live in March 2008.

In 2007 we purchased the Text-Q product which allows mobile phone users to reserve their place in line. Users pay a fee, using the premium rate SMS services, to avoid standing in a queue-line so the attraction generates additional revenue. Q-txt is in use in a number of locations in Europe.

In August 2008 we passed our 3 millionth user of the Lo-Q system and feel we have created a product which has very significantly altered the future of queuing in theme parks.

Parks continually strive for growth in their business while maintaining high guest satisfaction. Achieving higher per cap revenue is key to the growth of your business especially if your market is experiencing static park attendance.  We have proven that a major increase of in-park spend can be achieved by implementing our solutions.

We see queuing every day, whether it is a queue of traffic, a queue at a supermarket checkout or a queue at the airport. Queues make people dissatisfied and unhappy so everyday solutions have been employed to reduce queuing - road management structures are implemented, more checkouts are opened and airports introduce Fast Track systems.

Theme parks have seen limited success in overcoming queuing as many of the "everyday" solutions are very limited in how they can address the problem. Why can't there be solutions that can be flexible enough to cope with real life theme park problems, inexpensive and simple enough for the smallest venue or powerful enough to meet the future requirement of no lines for anyone?

Well of course there can ...

Lo-Q has enabled millions of guests to avoid standing in line, without line hopping, secure in the knowledge that the system would take care of any ride downtime or closure.

Lo-Q introduced the hugely successful "GSS" system in 2001 into our first Six Flags park in the USA.

Now Lo-Q's product has moved on and our range broadened.

2007 saw the first season of operation of our revolutionary VQ²º²º virtual queuing system in three USA parks. Guests use our attractive hand-held units "Q-bots" to reserve places in ride lines or shows. The Q-bot displays all the ride wait times and its buttons make it simple to select and reserve a place in line.

Also in 2007 we expanded our range to include Q-txt.  This is a mobile phone based reservation system ideal for single attraction venues or venues with one or two queue lines.

Park visitors can rent our small hand-held units to reserve their rides. Our flexible system provides true virtual queuing and any number of levels of wait discount services.

True virtual queuing means that our computer schedules ride times or shows in such a way that the guest using the Q-bot waits the same time as other guests. The guest benefits by no longer having to stand in line and is therefore free to enjoy other attractions, visit a retail outlet or restaurant or just relax. Because ALL guests wait the same amount of time for their rides, the presence of a standard Lo-Q system does not noticeably impact the queue dynamics.

Guests pay charges for Q-bots to avoid the physical queues so while they are waiting for rides they will be enjoying the park and are more likely to be spending money in the gift shops, restaurants or on arcade games. There will be other advantages for park owners including a happier customer - which means returning customers - and increasing guest loyalty.

When guests make a reservation using their Q-bot, the system registers that person or group into a virtual queue. Guests are informed via the Q-bot display with a beep and vibrate when their ride is ready. In addition, the Lo-Q system can inform users of ride breakdowns and allow re-scheduling of reservations.

To see a virtual demonstration of how the Q-bot works please CLICK HERE

Q-txt is a mobile phone based reservation system for venues with one or two queue lines. The guest uses his mobile phone to communicate with our reservation computer. This system can be used for entry / admission queues as well as ride queues.

Q-txt is versatile and adaptable for a number of queuing scenarios, however, because the guest in the park has to pay for SMS messages, the system is only economic in the environment that has only a few queue lines.

Users can book their place in line by sending a simple text. The Q-txt computer allocates a place in line for the user who therefore can do something more enjoyable with his precious time whilst he is waiting. The guest will receive a message back to their phone with details of their reservation time and a unique code, which they can use to gain entry to the attraction/ride.

Q-txt’s deployment requires little capital investment from the venue, but requires a good signal throughout the venue for all mobile phone service providers.

To see how to use Q-txt please CLICK HERE

Recognising the unique set of challenges associated with virtual queuing in water parks and the need for cashless payments, Lo-Q introduces Q-band, a revolutionary new virtual queuing system that is lightweight, cashless and waterproof.

Lo-Q’s innovative Q-band wristband allows guests to enjoy rides without standing in line. Q-band guests reserve rides by swiping the wristband at a touch screen kiosk.  The ride number and a wait time are then displayed on their wristband. After the wait time counts down to zero the guest can go straight to the ride.

The Q-band is a platform for cashless purchasing. As guests are already wearing a wristband, cashless becomes compelling and guests can see their e-cash balance on their wrist.  Guests no longer have to carry cash around.

The rfid functionality can be used for controlled access to the park and access to on-site lockers.

Some parks where Lo-Q solutions are in use

John Weston, Non-Executive Chairman

John joined Lo-Q in May 2011. He was previously Chief Executive of British Aerospace and then BAE Systems from 1998 to 2002, at the time it was a £12.5billion business employing over 120,000. He is also Chairman of MB Aerospace, a supplier of machined engine components to the aero-engine industry, AWS Electronics, a company manufacturing circuit boards and wiring harnesses for the defence and aerospace businesses, and Torotrak plc, developers in the commercial application of gearless traction drive technology. John is also Chairman of the trustees for Ufi Charitable Trust.

John is also a member of the audit and remuneration committees. 

Tom Burnet, Chief Executive Officer 

Tom joined Lo-Q as chief executive officer in October 2010.  He joined from Serco plc where he was Managing Director of the company's 5,000 person Defence Services division.  Prior to Serco, Tom was Managing Director of QinetiQ's Capability Support Division, a high growth £50 million technical consultancy, working with Governments and industry around the world.

Tom is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction and growth of Lo-Q.

Anthony Bone, Non-Executive Director 

Tony spent over 30 years in the IT industry with ICL, from hardware design, software design, consultancy and then general management. In 1988 he was one of the founder directors of the OSI Group which specialised in program and project management, IT, and change consultancy. OSI was acquired by the FI Group plc in 1999. Mr. Bone now acts as an investor in, and non-executive director of, a number of high technology companies.

Tony, in addition to normal board duties, provides advice in product strategy and development to the company as well as chairing the remuneration committee and serving on the audit committee.

David Gammon, Non-Executive Director 

David has over 15 years experience as an investment banker having worked for Baring Securites, Salomon Brothers, Robert Fleming & Co and Credit Lyonnais. Since 2001, David has focused on developing, advising and investing in UK technology companies.

David is also a member of the audit and remuneration committees.

Matt Cooper, Non-Executive Director 

Matt joined Lo-Q in September 2012. He currently serves as Chairman of both Octopus Capital Limited and Octopus Investments Limited, serves as Executive Chairman of AIM listed Imaginatik plc, and also holds further directorships at both private and public companies and of consumer body, Which? Financial.

Matt started his career in the United States and held senior roles at Capital One Financial Corporation before re-locating to the United Kingdom to manage the international expansion of Capital One in the UK and wider Europe, playing a pivotal role in growing Capital One's UK business from zero to two million customers and a workforce of more than 2000 employees.

Matt is Chairman of the audit committee and is a member of the remuneration committee.

Leonard Sim, Founding Director 

Leonard is the inventor of the System, which was conceived while he ran Tellurian (Lo-Q's predecessor), a sales agency in data communication devices and software.  Previously,  Mr. Sim ran technical sales teams for Rockwell Semiconductor and Ferranti Semiconductor after a period as an electronics engineer at Plessey Radar. He gained an Honours Electronic Engineering degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 1971.

Leonard's responsibilities include business development,  strategic planning,  product marketing and managing the engineering team.

John Alder, Finance Director

John is a Chartered Accountant who qualified with Coopers and Lybrand (PricewaterhouseCoopers). He subsequently held Finance Director and Controller positions in quoted and private pan - European businesses.

John is responsible for all aspects of the company's financial management and reporting. John was appointed as a director of the Company in August 2009.

Steve Brown, Chief Operating Officer - North America

Steve was appointed to the Board in December 2012 following the acquisition of accesso LLC.

Steve spent 16 years with the Walt Disney Co. where he held executive positions as Director of Walt Disney World Ticketing and Vice President of Revenue Management for Disneyland Resort. He has also worked as Corporate Vice President of Ticket Strategy and Sales for Six Flags, before becoming CEO and Principal of accesso in 2008.

Chris Galley, Chief Technology Officer

Chris Galley joined Lo-Q as CTO in November 2012. He has worked in IT for over 25 years, leading high performing teams and bridging the gap between business and technology.

Chris began his career in the City of London developing stock analysis systems. He later founded and built a Microsoft gold partner software and infrastructure consultancy in Edinburgh. After its successful sale he worked with a number of spinout companies from Edinburgh University as a consultant and CEO. In 2010 Chris was part of the Serco solutions team which developed and delivered the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme for London. He joins Lo-Q from a financial software organisation specialising in risk management and cash-flow analysis software, where he was Head of IT. 

Chris has an MA in Computer Science from Christ's College, Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh.

Steve Drake, Chief Operating Officer

Steve has been involved in the electronics industry from the outset of his career in support, purchasing and manufacturing operations. Prior to joining the company Mr. Drake was operations manager for Motorola Inc.  Steve held office as a director of the Company from January 2005 to November 2010.

Steve is responsible for park operations and product manufacturing, where he liaises with our manufacturing sub-contractors. His park operations duties require that he spends a substantial proportion of his time in the USA.

Rob Rodgers, Director of North American Park Operations - Lo-Q Inc

Rob currently manages both the technical and retail operations of Lo-Q's North American Operations. Originally from Florida, Rob came to Lo-Q after working 20 years in the media industry for AT&T Broadband (MediaOne). As Senior Project Manager of Customer Care and Technical Operations, Rob managed operational product launches and technical customer care for over 1 million customers in the National Market Group division.

Chris Bayne, Director of Development

Chris has been working in software development for 20 years and has been working on Lo-Q products since the inception of virtual queuing in 1997. Prior to this, Chris worked on purchasing and CRM systems as well as working in the video games industry. Chris has a degree in Computer & Microprocessor Systems from the University of Essex.

Shares in Issue - 19,381,206 

of which 26.99% are not in public hands

Information taken from the L-Q website 26.03.2013