News, Seminars and Events

September 2008

Colin Butcher short-listed as one of the finalists for "IT Consultant of the Year 2008" in the BCS IT Professional Awards.

See the full list of all categories and finalists at the BCS IT Professional Awards web site. The results will be announced on the 4^th December 2008 at the Awards Dinner in London.

28^th November 2008 - 10 St. James's Square, London, U.K.

Topinterim annual symposium - working with the public sector.

19^th - 20^th November 2008 - Nieuwegein, Utrecht, The Netherlands

HP event - Designing and implementing disaster tolerant systems - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

Part one of this seminar will cover the design principles of disaster-tolerant multi-site systems.
Part two will provide details of a recently implemented OpenVMS Integrity Server based disaster-tolerant cluster. In addition it is hoped to provide a practical demonstration of a small-scale clsuter.

See the HP Dutchworld web page for registration and further information.

10^th - 12^th November 2008 - Mannheim, Germany

Data Networking and Storage Networking - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

Systems cannot operate in isolation. With the move towards a virtualised environment the demands placed on storage and networks have never been greater. Understanding the way that network and storage infrastructures function is increasingly important. This applies across the board from systems management to application design and deployment. This session will provide an in-depth technical overview of how network infrastructures work and interact with the systems that connect to them.

Designing virtualised infrastructures - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

This session will provide an overview of virtualisation and the design principles that apply to virtualised infrastructures. There are a wide range of issues to be considered and the context within which your business operates will help to determine to what extent virtualisation is applicable across the different aspects of your organisation.

See the Community Connect Europe web page for registration and further information.

14^th October 2008 - London, U.K.

How performance affects service - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

This session will discuss how overall system performance can affect service delivery and what can be done to minimise risk prior to deployment of new or modified systems in a production environment.

See the UKCMG Free Forum web page for registration and further information.

1^st October 2008 - HP, 88 Wood Street, London, U.K.

HPUG event - Data Networking and Storage Networking - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

1^st October 2008 - Data Networking and Storage Networking (PDF, 238KB)

16^th - 17^th September 2008 - Kistamässan, Kista, Stockholm, Sweden

September 2008 - Disaster-tolerant clustering with OpenVMS on Integrity (PDF, 175KB)
September 2008 - Performance: getting the best from your new system platform (PDF, 175KB)

See the HP Sweden OpenVMS Technical Update web page for further information.

September 2008

Colin Butcher achieves Engineering Council registration as Chartered Engineer via the BCS.

18^th - 23^rd May 2008 with pre-symposium events.

OpenVMS Advanced Technical Symposium ("bootcamp"), HP OpenVMS Engineering, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA.
Held at the Radisson Hotel (formerly the Sheraton Tara Hotel) in Nashua adjacent to ZKO (Spit Brook Road).

The 2008 OpenVMS advanced technical symposium was yet another outstanding event. It gives attendees the opportunity to meet OpenVMS engineers, users and experts from around the world. It's also a great event at which to meet up with old friends and make new friends.

See the OpenVMS Advanced Technical Symposium ("bootcamp") web site for further information.

June 2008 - Availability Digest article on OpenVMS clustering (PDF, 175KB)
This article was based on a two day pre-bootcamp seminar given by Keith Parris and Colin Butcher, attended by Bill Highleyman of the Availability Digest.

May 2008 - Block 249B - Disaster-tolerant clustering with OpenVMS on Integrity (PDF, 175KB)
May 2008 - Block 277 - Networking with OpenVMS systems (PDF, 175KB)

The Ambassador Spirit Award (formerly the John Wisniewski Spirit Award).

Volker Halle (of EDS in Germany) was presented with the John Wisniewski Spirit Award. This award from peers and colleagues within the OpenVMS community around the world recognises the outstanding contribution, quality and value of his work over many years. Volker is one of the main contributors to the ITRC forums and it is great to see his tireless contribution valued this way.

VMS Engineering created this award in 2004 in memory of a larger-than-life guy called John Wisniewski. He was a well-known and passionate OpenVMS expert who poured huge amounts of energy into his teaching, writing and consulting work. John was the guy who started the OpenVMS Hobbyist programme and who trounced all-comers at DEFCON with an impregnable OpenVMS system.

Previous recipients are:
2004: Brian Schenkenberger (of Tmesis in the USA) and Al Meier (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in the USA).
2005: Colin Butcher (of XDelta Limited in the UK) and Kerry Main (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in Canada).
2006: Dave Cathey (of Montagar Software Concepts in the USA, also www.openvmshobbyist.com) and Keith Parris (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in the USA).
2007: Ian Miller (of EDS in the UK, also www.openvms.org).

1^st April 2008 - HP, 88 Wood Street, London, U.K.

HP OpenVMS Update - Chris Brown (HP), Ray Turner (HP), Dave Holt (HP), Nic Clews (CSC), Colin Butcher (XDelta)