Montrose Secam is a UK company based near London which designs and manufactures innovative electronics products. With over 20 years’ experience in the electronics industry, Montrose Secam has pioneered a number of high-tech and ecologically-friendly products - such as energy-saving lighting modules; super-bright, long-life LED lighting; and self-test emergency lighting.

The directors of the company are James Cosgrave (left) and Hugh Pearson (right).

James Cosgrave started his career as a 'bush pilot' in Africa, later becoming a career airline pilot ending up on wide body jets. He decided to leave professional aviation early in order to go into business and jointly started Montrose Secam. He has considerable knowledge in the field of electronics design as a mixture of aircraft electronics and the commercial electronics world.

Hugh Pearson has over twenty-five years of electronics experience starting with the formation of his own security company where he gained first-hand knowledge of the design and installation of microprocessor controlled electronic security systems. Hugh runs the R&D part of Montrose Secam and has first-hand experience of electronics design and assembly.

Assistive Mouse Adapter Background
The Assistive Mouse Adapter was originally invented by IBM researcher James Levine at the TJ Watson Lab in the United States. James Levine had seen how one of his own close relatives who had a tremor condition struggled to use a computer at home and was inspired to improve the situation for him and the millions of other tremor sufferers around the world. In 2004 IBM secured a global licensing agreement with Montrose Secam Limited to manufacture and market the mouse adapter. One of the Directors of Montrose Secam - James Cosgrave - also has a personal reason for getting involved with the project - he suffers from a condition called Essential Tremor (ET) which affects his hands.

Essential Tremor is a movement disorder with symptoms of abnormal involuntary shaking. Areas affected often include the hands, arms, head and voice box. Most people are able to live normal lives with this condition, but they may find that everyday activities such as eating, dressing, or writing can be difficult.

James first heard about the IBM Assistive Mouse adapter in 2004 in a newsletter for sufferers from Essential Tremor. IBM provided James with a prototype adapter and he was so impressed with it that he entered an agreement to take the technology to market.

He has been using a prototype Assistive Mouse Adapter for the past year and says he would miss it dearly if he was without it. "Without the mouse adaptor it would be almost impossible for me to use the computer because my tremor makes the pointer move all over the place".

James now hopes that his own enthusiasm for the device can benefit other sufferers of tremor conditions: “because of my personal background I feel huge enthusiasm for promoting the mouse adapter. By working with IBM to take it to market I now hope that anyone who suffers from such a frustrating condition as I do can benefit from it and use a computer just like anyone else".