We provide consultancy, design, software engineering and research, primarily for the culture, education, publishing and health sectors.

We are one of the few companies in the field that can offer a full service from strategic consultancy, through to the design of the user experience, the technical specification, build and testing of a complete information management and delivery system.

Access to information provided by our systems may take the form of desktop management tools, a web site, a CDROM or DVD publication, a kiosk system, hand-held devices or a digital gallery.

Increasingly, our expertise in network technologies means that we help organisations and individuals in dispersed locations to work together or get access to each other's content.

System Simulation is driven by a vision of delivering information management systems that fit the way that people and their organisations actually work. With a thirty-year record of innovation we have the people, practical experience and know-how to deliver on this promise.

Clients include: British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London's Transport Museum, Royal Academy, British Film Institute, Getty Images, The Stationery Office, Haymarket Medical, the Open University, the Higher Education Academy, L'Institut Pasteur, the British Red Cross Society, the Wellcome Foundation.

Our projects tend to involve:

• a complexity of information and content (structured and unstructured text, numerical data, still and moving images, sound and video).
• a requirement for very fast and precise access and search facilities.
• the need to display information and content in an effective and attractive way.
• information and content that is drawn from different sources, which may be geographically dispersed.
• output in different formats - print, Web, CDROM, DVD, kiosks, mobile phones, PDAs, Itv, or digital galleries.
• the flexibility required by organisations that need to be able to grow and change over time.
• a human-centred approach to every aspect of the information management environment.

The services we offer include:

Consultancy

Deciding how to get the best out of the new opportunities presented by a digital networked world can be daunting. We can help with advice as broad as how to develop a digital strategy or how to open access to a wider public, or as specialised as how to comply with international standards or which thesauri or controlled vocabularies to use to aid fast and precise searching.

Design

The quality of design can mean the difference between success or failure. We work closely with our clients and systematically explore what is required in terms of audience and users and what they should get out of what is being proposed. Our design capabilities encompass every aspect of the user's experience from content architecture, through interaction design, usability and accessibility to the overall "look and feel".

Software engineering

The nature of the software used to build an information management system determines what can and cannot be done. Our depth of experience in flexible, human-centred technology means that we can build the technical infrastructures necessary to meet the most sophisticated demands of a Digital Age.

Research and Development

Choosing the right software to ensure that both present demands and future requirements can be met, can be difficult. Our continuous record of technical innovation provides the solid foundations that enable us to maintain our own and our clients' position at the forefront of digital technology.

Off the peg solutions

Many of our clients choose to have tailor made solutions that meet their own, very particular requirements. But our off the peg solutions can meet most of the more common requirements of Cultural Institutions, Image Libraries, and Publishers and can provide a very cost-effective starting point. We are more than happy to discuss this option with you.