Billing, Les

A-List 2006

Job title Managing director.

Company Arrow Microtronica.

Place of birth Rotherham.

Career outline I’ve worked at Texas Instruments in semiconductor sales; Rapid Recall in Intel systems and semiconductor sales; Thorn Emi Computeraid in PC and networks dealer sales; MMD in Intel and Hitachi semiconductor sales; Arrow UK as value added services director; and Arrow Microtronica as managing director of PC components.

What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? There is always something happening in ‘left field’ to make it different every day.

What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? 3G phone networks. Telcos paid billions for licences and are still not getting any payback.

What will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? Media Centre PCs and servers in the home. It is early for this technology to get mass market acceptance, but it is the way to go. Those involved early will make more money and build customer loyalty.

Which technology would you most like to have invented? Microsoft Dos.