Request Expert

Expert has been doing hands-on technical work in the IT industry since 1992, before Internet and e-mail were generally used.

He has worked on both sides of the Atlantic and has worked at or consulted to many global firms, mainly in the reinsurance industry. He has worked on projects spanning six countries all around the globe and involving many different partner firms, IT departments, and cultures.

His involvement in these projects, in chronological order, has been Technical Lead, Architect, Project Manager, and external expert.

As an individual, Expert's most valuable expertise would be that in the thin-client computing area, also known as server-based computing, Microsoft's Terminal Services, or the product, Citrix. He is especially skilled at making applications, including historically "misbehaving applications" work well in the Terminal Services environment.

Expert's consulting firm's most valuable expertise would be in quickly setting up a new or branch office in central London, UK. They know all the local ins and outs, potential delays, and unique requirements that may not be known to firms outside the area. They have been known to set up a small office within five business days. Aspect handled include traditional IT set-up including servers, networking, workstations, and applications; and not so traditional IT functions such as dealing with architects (server rooms, network cabling), interior designers, landlords, estate agents, assisting with planning permission for aerial antenna or legel way-leave agreements for internal building cabling.

Subcontracting to IBM via an intermediary, Expert designed, implemented, and documented a Citrix farm spanning New York, Dublin, and Bermuda. The farm was built in VMware virtual machines, which were replicated at the SAN level across the ocean. ( Expert did not build the SAN or VM infrastructure, but created and managed the machine images on that infrastructure.)

The farm had all components redundant that could be made redundant and had multiple remote access points using Citrix Access Gateways (the hardware devices) and and multiple Advanced Access Control servers.

Many difficult applications were tamed to run smoothly on Terminal Services, even for users roaming from site to site. Scripts and custom Group Policy Administrative Templates were required to make them run smoothly. The applications included Sun GL, Vision XL, and IRIS insurance software, among many others.Working for a global reinsurance firm, Expert was project manager and architect for the migration of six existing un-trusting Windows NT domains into one Windows 2000 Active Directory. This project included sites in Bern, Zurich, Paris, Bermuda, Connecticut, Toronto, and Singapore. It included large IT departments, previously independent, in Zurich, Paris, and Connecticut. the biggest challenge was getting this departments to cooperate in the new single domain, and crossing cultural differences in work methods. 700 nodes were affected. The project was completed under budget, one week late, and was considered a resounding success.