XDelta Limited - Background and History

Experience, Innovation and Practicality

XDelta is an independent consulting organisation that specialises in designing and implementing mission-critical and disaster-tolerant systems, typically acting as design authority and technical architect on behalf of large organisations. Specialist skills include in-depth technical consulting, project direction, change management and leadership of business critical infrastructure projects. The company was founded by in 1996 by Colin Butcher and works across a wide range of industries, such as finance, telecommunications, energy, aerospace and healthcare.

Colin has an engineering background which, combined with a wide range of interests, provides him with the ability to empathise with clients and discuss projects in their own terms. He has considerable experience with mission-critical and safety-critical environments, providing authoritative technical guidance and project leadership based on a sound understanding of the issues involved.

He has been responsible for the architectural design, implementation and trouble-shooting of several major systems, including satellite control, air traffic monitoring, manufacturing, retail and healthcare infrastructures.

Colin is a well-known presenter of both technical and leadership seminars for various organisations, such as the BCS, the UKCMG and the world-wide HP user community (HPUG, Connect, etc.).
He also writes articles for a variety of publications. Slide sets and video are available here.

Colin was presented with the "Ambassador Spirit Award" at the HP OpenVMS advanced technical symposium in June 2005, at which he was one of the speakers.
This award from peers and colleagues within the VMS community around the world recognises the outstanding contribution, quality and value of his work over many years.

Colin was a finalist in both the 2008 and 2003 BCS IT Professional Awards for "IT Consultant of the Year" for his work on two major projects (healthcare and aerospace).

His professional qualifications include Fellow of the British Computer Society, Chartered IT Professional and Chartered Engineer.
Colin received a 1^st class Hons. BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Leeds University in 1977.