Rick recently re-joined LloydsTSB Group IT after a 14 year absence - to work as a WebSphere Consultant
& Technical Architect - following 13 enjoyable years working for Safeway Stores IT. In his 20+ years
with both companies, Rick has served in a variety of IT functions, as practitioner & manager, including
Centres of Excellence, Integration Services, Development Projects, Business Support, Service Management,
Service Centres & Technical Services. Before joining LTSB, Rick spent his last 3 years at Safeway
managing the establishment of a J2EE & EAI architecture/capability, primarily employing the WebSphere
portfolio & other IBM technologies, as part of an Enterprise Architecture strategy. The relatively
small team Rick led was involved in all aspects of this project, including architecture, development,
support & administration practices. This has given Rick an all-round appreciation for the technologies
and skills involved and how to best leverage them. Before leaving Safeway, Rick performed in the role
of lead Technical Architect, within which he played a key role in successfully delivering multi-million
pound integration projects using WebSphere J2EE & MQ – a legacy he remains proud of. Rick was introduced
to the WebSphere User Group UK in 2002, initially being invited to act as WUG secretary before becoming
chairman in 2003. As well as being involved in WUG, Rick particpates in the WebSphere Inner Circle
programme, which has enabled him to meet & have access to many influential & knowledgeable people within
IBM WebSphere circles. In recent years Rick has also been involved in trials of new technology, such as
Naked Objects open-source and practices, such as IBM Patterns for e-Business. Outside of work, Rick is
happily married with 3 young children (notice the bags under eyes) & lives in Rickmansworth, Herts. He
enjoys sport, travel & good eating, although now spends too little time on former & too much time on
latter. His hobbies include following Wasps RFC, Ipswich Town FC, the Oakland Raiders & England
football/rugby teams. Rick also has the odd hack spoiling some very nice golf courses, always making
special effort to par the 19th!
Vice Chairman - Colin Renouf - Lloyds TSB
Colin Renouf is a certified IBM WebSphere Associate Developer. Colin formerly studied aeronautical engineering at the University of London (QMC) and spent time working on helicopter engine design. He was subsequently drawn into the world of software development, where he has spent the last 17 years coding, designing, and working on technical architecture and strategy for one the UK?s oldest banks (Lloyds TSB). During this time Colin studied many other subjects and obtained other qualifications including another first class degree covering social sciences and IT.
Before discovering the beauty of Java, Colin was writing enterprise systems using old school programming languages such as assembler, C and C++ on DOS, Windows and AIX systems. Java and J2EE, along with C# and .NET to provide balance, are hobbies as well as key job skills. He also has a keen interest in Unix, Linux and Windows.
Colin is a keen advocate of computer certifications having obtained a number of certifications from Microsoft (MCP, MCSE, MCDBA), Oracle (OCP DBA), Sun (Java SCJP and Solaris SCSA) and more recently IBM (WebSphere Studio v5.0).
Colin is currently living in Croydon (near London) and is married with two children. He can be contacted at colin.renouf@webspherecertificate.com
Web
Master - David Bevan - John Lewis Partnership
David has worked in the IT industry for 9 years now since
graduating with a degree in Electronic Engineering from UCL. He
initially worked on coding transmission systems based on CICS,
CoBOL & DB2 before spending time implementing Lotus Notes
across the enterprise. Approximately four years ago he 'became'
the WebSphere team within John Lewis and was responsible for
designing their initial WebSphere infrastructure which was
based on WebSphere 3.02 running on 4 NT servers using the CTG
to talk to MF CICS. Over the years the team has expanded to
five people and the infrastructure has evolved considerably and
is now based on IBM zSeries hardware hosting a farm of virtual
zLinux servers running WAS 4.02 & 5.1. David is an IBM
Certified Systems Expert for WAS 4 and a Sun Certified Java
Programmer, he was one of the founding members of the WebSphere
User Group and is responsible for the user group's website
www.websphereusergroup.org.uk
Treasurer - Chris Mason - Aegon
Since March 2000 Chris has worked for major life insurer Aegon UK where he leads the team responsible
for the development and configuration of the core eCommerce infrastructure. Key tasks are configuration
of all software components, including Websphere, and advising on architectural issues. Much time has been
spent developing standards for the way Websphere is configured and used within Aegon, and streamlining
the process for deploying applications.
Chris is a Chartered Engineer and worked in datacomms before moving into more mainstream IT about 10
years ago. Since then he has worked for several organisations as an administrator and systems integrator
on UNIX based systems. Recent experience included two years spent at the European Central Bank in the
time leading up to and including the launch of the Euro.
IBM Representative - Alan Chambers
Alan is a Consulting IT specialist with IBM's UK Software Business. He has
held a wide range of technical roles during his time with IBM. For many
years, has was widely known
as the leading UK specialist for the OS/2 operating system and introduced
many within and outside IBM to its advanced capabilities and programming
interfaces. During this time he developed the "Restricted Workplace Shell
for OS/2" program offering, which was widely implemented throughout the UK
and elsewhere.
In 1995, Alan recognised the potential of Java, taught himself Java
programming and was soon in demand as a presenter on this new technology,
which quickly became so important to IBM and the IT industry. It was
therefore natural, when IBM introduced its new Java-based application
server, that IBM was appointed "UK WebSphere Champion", promoting WebSphere
and supporting enterprises who were evaluating and implementing it.
In his current technical sales role, Alan became aware of growing requests
from WebSphere customers for a user group that would enable them to share
experience and develop their knowledge. In response to this, he convened a
meeting in 2001, to which WebSphere users were invited to come and discuss
creating a new user group. At this meeting a committee of volunteers was
formed who subsequently met to create the WebSphere User Group that we now
know and Alan continues to serve as its IBM Representative.
#
#
Welcome to the UK's WebSphere User Group
Last updated on 21/01/2004
The WebSphere UK User Group was set up at the beginning of 2001 with the objective of sharing user experiences of IBM's WebSphere Application Server software (and related products, e.g. Visual Age for Java, WSAD, etc) in the UK. Since that time both the group and product have matured and the number of users in the UK has expanded considerably, both on the distributed and mainframe platforms.
The group runs 3 meetings a year (a full day in each of February, June & October) at which there are a variety of technical presentations and Master Classes on relevant issues and hot topics. Recently we have introduced separate "Breakout Forums" for developers, architects & administrators during which the different aspects of the technology are dealt with in more depth. Presentations are given by a mixture of IBM technical support experts, vendors and end-users. The presentation content is intended to provide benefit for both new & experienced users of WebSphere. Copies of presentations from recent meetings are available for Download from our website.
We also welcome vendor & service-provider involvement in the group's meetings. We provide facilities for vendors to present & demonstrate their products (for a small fee). Any such parties who may be interested in doing so at future meetings are invited to contact us to discuss.
What could you expect to gain from attending our meetings? Well, we hope it would include one or more of the following:
* Network with colleagues and experts from different companies to exchanges ideas and information.
* Learn about future product directions from IBM.
* Obtain greater knowledge & education about aspects of WebSphere and related technologies.
* Explore "Best Practices" for WebSphere architecture, development and support.
* Meet with 3rd party software vendors & service-providers.
* Hear about case studies & implementations.
* Obtain discounts for IBM conference fees.
Members (& potential members) are invited to read our policy document and contact any of the committee if you have any further questions. On behalf of the group's committee, I would like to encourage anyone using WebSphere in the UK (in any capacity) to come along and participate in our meetings. We look forward to meeting you. Rick Smith (chairman).
#
linksVendor Links
Verhoef Training Ltd
REAL Solutions UK
Salmon
Actuate
Tidal Software
Precise
Alphacourt
Parasoft
Macro4
Smart421
Quest
Process Master
Open Logic
Symantec
CSI Ltd
dynaTrace
Wily Technology
Green Hat
Rick recently re-joined LloydsTSB Group IT after a 14 year absence - to work as a WebSphere Consultant
& Technical Architect - following 13 enjoyable years working for Safeway Stores IT. In his 20+ years
with both companies, Rick has served in a variety of IT functions, as practitioner & manager, including
Centres of Excellence, Integration Services, Development Projects, Business Support, Service Management,
Service Centres & Technical Services. Before joining LTSB, Rick spent his last 3 years at Safeway
managing the establishment of a J2EE & EAI architecture/capability, primarily employing the WebSphere
portfolio & other IBM technologies, as part of an Enterprise Architecture strategy. The relatively
small team Rick led was involved in all aspects of this project, including architecture, development,
support & administration practices. This has given Rick an all-round appreciation for the technologies
and skills involved and how to best leverage them. Before leaving Safeway, Rick performed in the role
of lead Technical Architect, within which he played a key role in successfully delivering multi-million
pound integration projects using WebSphere J2EE & MQ – a legacy he remains proud of. Rick was introduced
to the WebSphere User Group UK in 2002, initially being invited to act as WUG secretary before becoming
chairman in 2003. As well as being involved in WUG, Rick particpates in the WebSphere Inner Circle
programme, which has enabled him to meet & have access to many influential & knowledgeable people within
IBM WebSphere circles. In recent years Rick has also been involved in trials of new technology, such as
Naked Objects open-source and practices, such as IBM Patterns for e-Business. Outside of work, Rick is
happily married with 3 young children (notice the bags under eyes) & lives in Rickmansworth, Herts. He
enjoys sport, travel & good eating, although now spends too little time on former & too much time on
latter. His hobbies include following Wasps RFC, Ipswich Town FC, the Oakland Raiders & England
football/rugby teams. Rick also has the odd hack spoiling some very nice golf courses, always making
special effort to par the 19th!
David has worked in the IT industry for 9 years now since
graduating with a degree in Electronic Engineering from UCL. He
initially worked on coding transmission systems based on CICS,
CoBOL & DB2 before spending time implementing Lotus Notes
across the enterprise. Approximately four years ago he 'became'
the WebSphere team within John Lewis and was responsible for
designing their initial WebSphere infrastructure which was
based on WebSphere 3.02 running on 4 NT servers using the CTG
to talk to MF CICS. Over the years the team has expanded to
five people and the infrastructure has evolved considerably and
is now based on IBM zSeries hardware hosting a farm of virtual
zLinux servers running WAS 4.02 & 5.1. David is an IBM
Certified Systems Expert for WAS 4 and a Sun Certified Java
Programmer, he was one of the founding members of the WebSphere
User Group and is responsible for the user group's website
www.websphereusergroup.org.uk
Since March 2000 Chris has worked for major life insurer Aegon UK where he leads the team responsible
for the development and configuration of the core eCommerce infrastructure. Key tasks are configuration
of all software components, including Websphere, and advising on architectural issues. Much time has been
spent developing standards for the way Websphere is configured and used within Aegon, and streamlining
the process for deploying applications.
Chris is a Chartered Engineer and worked in datacomms before moving into more mainstream IT about 10
years ago. Since then he has worked for several organisations as an administrator and systems integrator
on UNIX based systems. Recent experience included two years spent at the European Central Bank in the
time leading up to and including the launch of the Euro.
Alan is a Consulting IT specialist with IBM's UK Software Business. He has
held a wide range of technical roles during his time with IBM. For many
years, has was widely known
as the leading UK specialist for the OS/2 operating system and introduced
many within and outside IBM to its advanced capabilities and programming
interfaces. During this time he developed the "Restricted Workplace Shell
for OS/2" program offering, which was widely implemented throughout the UK
and elsewhere.
In 1995, Alan recognised the potential of Java, taught himself Java
programming and was soon in demand as a presenter on this new technology,
which quickly became so important to IBM and the IT industry. It was
therefore natural, when IBM introduced its new Java-based application
server, that IBM was appointed "UK WebSphere Champion", promoting WebSphere
and supporting enterprises who were evaluating and implementing it.
In his current technical sales role, Alan became aware of growing requests
from WebSphere customers for a user group that would enable them to share
experience and develop their knowledge. In response to this, he convened a
meeting in 2001, to which WebSphere users were invited to come and discuss
creating a new user group. At this meeting a committee of volunteers was
formed who subsequently met to create the WebSphere User Group that we now
know and Alan continues to serve as its IBM Representative. 