One arm, Vicon, provides professionals with tools for capturing and analysing motion in 2D and 3D. It’s been used on the Transformers movie and on The Golden Compass.

More recently, 2d3, which manufactures the tools to extract 3D data from film and video for use in image processing and enhancement, has signed major contracts with the Ministry of Defence and is targeting the US defence sector as it moves forward.

Lastly, Yotta Data Collection is ‘mapping the world one pixel at a time to build up a database that includes a picture of every street in the UK’.

The company enjoyed a bumper 2007, with year-end results showing profit before tax of £3 million, up 50 per cent on 2006, and a nice cash balance of £6.2 million. While the three branches of the business focus on very different areas, they draw on the same technology under the one banner.