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 and senior interim management, specialising in Business Continuity and Risk 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 for other organisations, including HP at the EMEA Knowledge Transfer Events. More recently he has been asked to write articles for a variety of publications, including the HP OpenVMS technical journal.

Colin was one of four finalists in the 2003 BCS IT Professional Awards for "IT Consultant of the Year".

Colin was presented with the John Wisniewski Spirit Award by Ann McQuaid (head of HP OpenVMS Engineering) at the HP OpenVMS Symposium in June 2005. 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.

Other interests include music, cycle touring, photography and cooking for friends, plus gradually restoring the house that he and Pauline moved into in 2002.