neil barnes

Responsible for all IT related matters across several UK sites. Experienced a number of takeovers, mergers and acquisitions and associated network and systems integration projects. At one point a company was created consisting of me and a major shareholder. This was so my time could be distributed among several companies in the group (DCA, Vogt & Maguire, DCA Distribution, CSAV and SAMS). Challenging days... Used MySQL/PHP to interface with main production systems and produce applications that extended the functionality and effectiveness of our operations. I was instrumental in introducing virtualization to the group and encouraging the adoption of SSD technology. Improved throughput, efficiency, effectiveness and decreased cost of all UK systems.

* Managed a team of <20 IT staff at the Birmingham data centre straddling the time between mainframes and the onset of PC's and "client-server" computing. * Main achievements: "Downsizing" from DEC PDP 11 "mini-computers" to PC-based systems saving many thousands of pounds in equipment and manpower. * Utilized SCO Xenix to automate many manual processes saving thousands of trees in the process...