Archive - previous News, Seminars and Events

June 2010

News - Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Awards 2010.

Following XDelta Limited's success in the 2009 Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Awards, Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited has been invited to join the judging panel for the 2010 Awards. Further details about the "Pulse renewal" project and its success in the 2009 Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Awards are available here.

28^th - 30^th April 2009 - Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate, HG1 5LA, U.K.

HC2009 Conference & Exhibition

Mission-critical healthcare: NHSBT Pulse

Colin Butcher gave a session about the recent successful implementation of new "Pulse" system for the NHSBT (NHS Blood & Transplant).
This project is the current lead story by the Availability Digest on the HP OpenVMS web pages.

30^th April 2009 - Mission-critical healthcare: NHSBT Pulse

See the HC2009 Conference & Exhibition web pages for further information.

19^th March 2009 - HP, 88 Wood Street, London, U.K.

HP User Group OpenVMS Day - Chris Brown (HP), Ray Turner (HP), Anders Johansson (HP), Dave Holt (HPUG), Colin Butcher (XDelta)

IPCI (IP Cluster Interconnect) and Volume Shadowing enhancements (slides courtesy of Nilakantan Madahevan of HP OpenVMS Engineering).
19^th March 2009 - OpenVMS performance on Integrity for HPUG OpenVMS update day

See the HP OpenVMS and HPUG web pages for further information.

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

HP Dutchworld - OpenVMS Technical Update - Gerrit Woertmann (HP), Chris Brown (HP), Jurgen Eijmberts (Intel), Johan Buijser & Marcel Willems (Oracle), Ton van der Zwet (Kadaster), Colin Butcher (XDelta)

Colin gave several session at the HP Dutchworld event. The overall event was well organised and very well attended. The exhibition hall was very busy with a lot of stands by HP and business partners. Having excellent coffee provided by the Barista Company was a splendid idea.

Networking with OpenVMS systems: DECnet Phase V, DECnet over IP, LAN failover, failsafe IP
Performance: getting the best from your new system platform
IPCI (IP Cluster Interconnect) and Volume Shadowing enhancements (slides courtesy of Nilakantan Madahevan of HP OpenVMS Engineering).
Disaster tolerant clusters

See Gerrit Woertman's HP Dutchworld - OpenVMS track web pages for further information.

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

Community Connect Europe (the European arm of the HP User Group) event - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

Designing virtualised infrastructures

This session provided 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.

Data networks and storage networks: a technical overview

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 provided an in-depth technical overview of how network and storage infrastructures work and interact with the systems that connect to them.

See the Community Connect Europe web site for further information.

September 2008

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

This nomination is for his design and implementation work on the new "Pulse" system for the NHSBT (NHS Blood & Transplant). This project is the current lead story on the HP OpenVMS web pages.

Availability Digest article on NHSBT Pulse national system

See the BCS web site for further information about the IT Professional Awards.

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

HP OpenVMS Technical Update - Sue Skonetski (HP), Anders Johansson (HP), Burns Fisher (HP), Doug Gordon (HP), Barry Keirstein (HP), Colin Butcher (XDelta)

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

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.

Availability Digest article on OpenVMS clustering
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.

Block 249B - Disaster-tolerant clustering with OpenVMS on Integrity
Block 277 - Networking with OpenVMS systems

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

Volker Halle (of Invenate 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).

30^th - 31^st October 2007 - Hilton Hotel, Olympia, London, U.K.

UKCMG 2 day seminar - Systems Engineering for Availability and Performance - Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

See the UKCMG seminar web page for further information.

Seminar description
Seminar slide set

1^st - 2^nd October 2007 - NBC (Nieuwegein Business Center), Blokhoeve 1, 3438 LC Nieuwegein, Utrecht, Netherlands

HP and Interex Netherlands OpenVMS Technical Update event

See the HP Netherlands OpenVMS TUD web page for further information.

• Sue Skonetski, Manager Engineering Programs, HP OpenVMS Engineering
• Andy Goldstein, Principal Member of Technical Staff, HP OpenVMS Engineering
• Jim Janetos, Technical Manager, HP OpenVMS Engineering
• John Shortt, Blades Project Leader, HP OpenVMS Engineering
• Meg Watson, Distributed Netbeans Project Leader, HP OpenVMS Engineering
• Colin Butcher, OpenVMS Consulting, XDelta Limited
• Gerrit Woertman, OpenVMS Ambassador, HP Netherlands (event organisation and planning)

1^st October 2007 - Availability & Performance: Multi-site disaster-tolerant environments
2^nd October 2007 - Migrating to Integrity

20^th - 25^th May 2007 with pre-symposium events.

OpenVMS Symposium (advanced technical bootcamp), HP OpenVMS Engineering, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA.
Held at the Sheraton Tara Hotel in Nashua adjacent to ZKO (Spit Brook Road).

The 2007 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 Symposium (advanced technical bootcamp) web site for further information.

May 2007 - A112 Designing OpenVMS systems for availability and performance
May 2007 - A184 Networking with OpenVMS systems

The John Wisniewski Spirit Award.

Ian Miller (of EDS in the UK) 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. Ian is one of the main contributors to OpenVMS.org.

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) and Keith Parris (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in the USA).

22^nd January 2007

PMP Evaluation Centre - IT Infrastructure, Security & Business Continuity.

Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited worries that there is a growing "expertise gap", caused by the loss of experienced staff and the lack of new people coming through to take their place.

IT Infrastructure, Security & Business Continuity - Mind the gap

5^th - 10^th June 2005 with pre-symposium events starting on the 1^stJune.

OpenVMS Symposium (advanced technical bootcamp), HP OpenVMS Engineering, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA.
Held at the Sheraton Tara Hotel in Nashua adjacent to ZKO (Spit Brook Road).

The June 2005 OpenVMS advanced technical symposium was yet another outstanding event. It gave attendees the opportunity to meet OpenVMS engineers, users and experts from around the world. A great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new friends.

The sessions were all of very high quality and provided a huge wealth of information about current and new directions for the OpenVMS operating system and the underlying hardware platforms. The overall atmosphere was one of enthusiasm and co-operation with everyone participating in all that was available. In all it was a thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and exhausting week.

See the OpenVMS Symposium (advanced technical bootcamp) web site for further information.

Jun. 2005 - DECnet-Plus and DECnet over IP seminar slides.

The John Wisniewski Spirit Award.

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 Brian Schenkenberger (of Tmesis in the USA) and Al Meier (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in the USA). This years recipients are Colin Butcher (of XDelta Limited in the UK) and Kerry Main (OpenVMS Ambassador for HP in Canada).

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.

On a more personal note - it came as a huge surprise and it is a wonderful thing to have received. Thank you.

February 2005 - HP OpenVMS Technical Journal V5.

The HP OpenVMS Technical Journal V5 includes the article "Decnet-Plus technical overview" by Colin Butcher of XDelta Limited.

Article Abstract: This article provides a technical overview of DECnet-Plus, including DECnet over IP. DECnet-Plus is the latest implementation of DIGITAL Network Architecture (DNA) Phase V. The purpose of this article is to explain some of the history, background, structure and mechanisms that make up what is often simply referred to as "Phase V". It is hoped that this will assist system designers and managers to better understand the capabilities of DECnet-Plus and thereby ease migration from DECnet Phase IV to DECnet-Plus, especially when using DECnet over IP in a predominantly TCP/IP based WAN infrastructure. The author has extensive consulting experience gained by working with DECnet on mission-critical OpenVMS systems. This article has been written in response to many of the situations and queries that have occurred over the years.

Read the HP OpenVMS Technical Journal V5 article.
Read the full HP OpenVMS Technical Journal V5.

My thanks to Phil Milgrom of HP OpenVMS Engineering who kindly volunteered to be the technical author and who greatly assisted me in writing this. It wouldn't be anywhere near as readable as it is without his help.

10th November 2004

Top Consultant - thought leadership articles.

Corporate governance and the technology infrastructure by Colin Butcher.

TopConsultant 7^th Nov. 2004 - Corporate governance and the technology infrastructure

29^th October 2004

Conspectus - Enterprise & E-Business Applications (October 2004 issue).

The October 2004 issue of Conspectus includes a three page article by Colin Butcher about the implications for your IT Infrastructure of running Enterprise Applications.

Conspectus Oct. 2004 - Enterprise and E-Business Applications - What lies beneath

Saturday 16^th October 2004

HPUG event - Visit to Bletchley Park - the home of Colossus.

Several members of OpenVMS Engineering joined us on a special trip to Bletchley Park and their Computer Museum. We were fortunate to see all sorts of things not generally on view to the general public as part of a normal visit.

The Computer Museum volunteers put on an excellent display of early DEC equipment, much of it running. The highlight was probably spending time with the Colossus rebuild project and it's prime mover - Tony Sale.

See the excellent review contributed by David Rayfield.

4^th October 2003

PCG Annual Conference at the Marriott Hotel, Heathrow, UK.

Colin Butcher was invited to speak at the PCG (Professional Contractors Group) annual conference.

A Personal View of the Future for Freelance Working

August 2003

BCS IT Professional Awards 2003 - IT Consultant of the Year.

XDelta Limited is pleased to announce that Colin Butcher was selected as one of the four finalists in the British Computer Society IT Professional 2003 awards in the category IT Consultant of the Year. This is in recognition of his work with HP (formerly Digital / Compaq) and OpenVMS Engineering.

The results were announced on the evening of 24^th September 2003 at the Awards dinner. Congratulations to Gill Hunt of Hunt Lancaster on being awarded the winners trophy.