Blog

  • The £100,000 FTP server

    Recent experience of working on a start-up MVNO contrasts sharply with some previous experiences in larger companies. The noteworthy difference is the ability to get things done in the former, whilst the aim of the latter often seems to be to prevent innovation and progress. This is a generalisation, of course, but large companies are…

  • Security and Cloud Services

    Security is, of course, important and Cloud services raise some important issues related to data security. However, a lot of companies have an irrational response to cloud services and make knee-jerk policy decisions about their use based on ignorance. The fact is cloud services can actually improve an organisation’s security significantly. The problem is IT…

  • The last Windows Update I did took longer than every Linux update I have done in the last decade combined!

    Let’s be clear on this: I use Linux a lot. It has been my desktop OS of choice for the last 10 years or so, and I’ve used it on countless projects in the last 10-15 years. Therefore, I also upgrade it a lot. Comparatively I use Windows when I have to, which isn’t really…

  • The hidden cost of licence management

    One of the biggest hidden IT costs to many large companies is due to managing licences. I don’t mean the costs of the licences themselves, which are all too clear, but the costs of understanding, administering, and otherwise dealing with commercial licences. It’s such a problem that an industry is growing around this, known as…

  • Bail out

    This is actually a story from a colleague of mine who did a short piece of Technical Architecture work for a large European Telecommunications company. He was contracted by the Architecture group who had just spent the previous several months putting together a plan to “re-architect” some of their systems, which had previously been put…

  • Introduction

    I’ve decided to share a few of my “war stories” in this blog. Over the coming months I plan to post stories of real life experiences as a consultant and Technical Architect in the industry, plus opinions on the state of the industry. Stay tuned!

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