about us

1602 Group

What's in a name? 1602 Group was formed on the 1st June 2002 (hence the name) from a management buyout of the control systems division of Solid State Logic. Solid State Logic had begun in 1969 designing and manufacturing control systems for pipe organs, the name being chosen by founder Colin Sanders to explain the mystery of non-moving part controls. The company was bought by Duncan Crundwell, a long term SSL employee and Philip Lelliott; the two had been friends since apprenticeship days in the aeronautical engineering business.


some details

some history

Over the past 30 years we have continued to introduce the latest technology to our customers to provide ever more flexible ways to provide systems to meet their needs. In 1981 we introduced microprocessors and software control to our automation systems using the now venerable Z8 processor. Updates to these systems with SD card readers and touch screens are available today. The introduction of FPGA technology in the early 1990's allowed us to build standard hardware that could easily be modified using a firmware upgrade allowing us to build one off solutions with technical support for years to come. Today we provide a wide range of products from simple transistor matrices to high-speed Ethernet based IO controllers managing thousands of real-time events over a wide area. We also supply events recorders and memory backup and restore.

what we do

1602 Group designs and manufactures custom control systems as an OEM manufacturer. We specialize in being a technology partner to companies who want to use the latest electronic technology in their products but do not have the in-house experience to do so. Our technical support staff in the UK, USA and Canada are specialists in demystifying the technology and working with your staff to provide a complete solution for your contract. We currently have around 16,000 product installations in 24 countries that cover everything from private in-home installations to high profile sites such as The Sydney Opera House, The Disney Concert Hall, Westminster Abbey, Star Wars Weekends for an annual theme park event, ridecar AV controllers for a park in the Middle East and both the London and Sochi Olympics. More than 4 Million people are entertained by our systems every week. In addition, we also provide contract manufacturing services in the UK.

Who we are

The factory and the European HQ is based in rural Suffolk in the UK, here we provide technical support, service and repair together with manufacturing. In North America, our HQ is in Washington DC with additional technical support services in Calgary, Canada.