XDelta Limited - Background and History

Experience, Innovation and Practicality

Colin Butcher established XDelta Limited in 1996 as an independent consulting organisation, primarily acting as an source of external technical expertise to mentor and assist clients working on high availability infrastructure projects. This has expanded into both in-depth technical consulting, typically as design authority or technical architect, and also senior interim management.

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 advice and project direction 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 masterclass style seminars, often for HPUG (the HP User Group, formerly known as DECUS). He is also a regular presenter of seminars at events in Europe and the USA for other organisations, including world-wide HP events. More recently he has been asked to write articles for a variety of publications, including the HP OpenVMS technical journal.

He was presented with the John Wisniewski 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 one of four finalists in the 2003 BCS IT Professional Awards for "IT Consultant of the Year".
He has recently been short-listed as a finalist in the 2008 BCS IT Professional Awards for "IT Consultant of the Year"

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