Eric Thomson

President & Founder

Eric Thomson is the President and Founder of Secure Fiber Ops (SFO), based in The Woodlands, Texas (greater Houston area). With more than 30 years of experience spanning structured cabling, fiber infrastructure, data center design and build, project management, and team leadership, Eric brings a track record that is both broad in scope and deep in technical expertise.

His career spans two continents and encompasses some of the most demanding infrastructure environments in the world — from the trading floors of London's largest banks to enterprise data centers and government facilities across New Zealand. He brings that same level of rigor and delivery discipline to every SFO engagement.

eric@securefiberops.com

+1 (346) 754 0519

Career
Journey

1993-1997

Cableship Ltd

London

Eric’s career began in 1993 as a structured cabling laborer in London. Within just seven months he was promoted to Project Manager at Cableship Ltd, overseeing major Cat 5 and fiber installations for London’s largest banks, managing crews of 60–100 people on projects lasting up to 18 months. Projects ranged from 60,000 to 125,000 Cat 5e outlets; among the largest cabling projects undertaken anywhere in the world at the time. These early projects gave Eric an exceptional grounding in high-density fiber and copper infrastructure in mission-critical financial environments; experience directly relevant to today’s data center and enterprise fiber work.

1997-2006

Dimension Data NZ

New Zealand

Returning to New Zealand in 1997, Eric worked for several structured cabling companies before being headhunted by Dimension Data NZ. Over eight years there, he gained a wealth of knowledge in Cisco network infrastructure and high-end IT solutions, including data center networking, enterprise fiber architecture, and the integration of physical layer infrastructure with active network equipment.

2006-2024

NZ Data

Founder & CEO

New Zealand

In October 2006, Eric founded NZ Data in Wellington with just himself and five installers. Over nearly 20 years he grew it into New Zealand’s leading structured cabling provider, with 100+ direct staff, 400+ certified subcontractor partners, and seven offices nationwide. Under Eric’s leadership, NZ Data became the preferred infrastructure partner for Government Departments, Ministries, Network Integration Organizations, healthcare providers, and logistics and transportation organizations across New Zealand.

NZ Data’s service portfolio under Eric’s direction grew to encompass the full physical layer stack — exactly the capabilities he now brings to the US market through SFO:

Data Centre Infrastructure: turn-key design, build and commissioning of data centers, computer rooms and telecommunications closets. Partnerships with industry-leading data center vendors including rack, UPS, power and cooling solutions.
Fiber Infrastructure: tailored fiber solutions for enterprise campus and data center environments. Expert design and implementation across OM4 Multimode, OS2 Single-mode, and all fiber types in between, for any environment now and into the future.
Structured Cabling: high-density copper (Cat 6A) and fiber cabling solutions for single and multi-site environments, designed for future-proof enterprise performance.
Managed Services: OPEX-based infrastructure management including layer one environments, UPS systems, and full Build | Operate | Transfer service models.
Wireless, Security, AV and Digital Transformation: a complete digital connectivity and environmental infrastructure group.

Data Centre Expertise

Throughout his career, Eric has accumulated deep expertise in data center and telecommunications room environments. At NZ Data, this became a core service vertical, with the company developing extensive design knowledge and capabilities to deliver turnkey solutions for business-critical environments.

Key data center competencies Eric brings to SFO include:

Design and build of data centers, server rooms and telco closets from concept to commissioning
Physical infrastructure including racks, cable management, power distribution and cooling
High-density structured cabling within data center environments (copper and fiber)
Partnerships with leading data center hardware and solutions vendors
Ongoing managed services for layer-one data center infrastructure
Delivery for government, financial services, healthcare, and enterprise clients

Fiber Infrastructure Expertise

Fiber has been central to Eric’s career since his earliest projects in London in 1993. At NZ Data, fiber infrastructure became a dedicated service line, with the company developing tailored solutions to prepare enterprise campus and data center environments for next-generation equipment.

Eric’s fiber expertise spans:

Large-scale fiber installations dating back to the early 1990s (including some of the largest fiber projects in the world at the time, run from London’s financial district)
OM4 Multimode and OS2 Single-mode fiber design and implementation
Enterprise campus fiber backbone architecture
Intra-building and inter-building fiber distribution
Fiber within data center and telecommunications room environments
Design, installation, certification, and ongoing managed support

Bringing it All to the US Market

Eric brings all of this experience to SFO, with the goal of growing his team into a market leader known for design expertise and consistent, high-quality delivery for every US customer. SFO’s focus on fiber and data center infrastructure is a direct extension of the capabilities Eric spent nearly three decades building and refining at NZ Data.

The 20-year record of building, scaling, and operating an infrastructure business — from a single Wellington office to a nationwide group with hundreds of staff and subcontractors — is precisely the operational foundation that makes SFO credible, well-run, and ready to execute at scale in the US market.