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Welcome to B & M Bulletin, produced specifically for IT specialists. In this issue:
• Broadening your horizons by working abroad
• Tech View - Benefiting from the growth of SANs
• Specialist Profile - Alan Watthey, Senior Network Specialist
• Real Skills. Real People - B & M's Amanda Spencer
• Current work opportunities
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Broadening your horizons by working abroad
Contractors can get more from working overseas than just a dash of continental culture. Jerry Smart, MD of B & M, explains some of the benefits
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With only 21.6% of the electorate backing the UK government, it is not surprising that many UK contractors want to work overseas to escape what they see as an increasing tax burden. The UK and Irish economies may still be the strongest in the union, but there is still a forecast for steady growth in the rest of the EU.
By broadening your horizons to include openings in other countries, you have access to a much greater choice of opportunities where you may deploy your skills. Consider the diversity of cultures in which to immerse oneself, the enjoyment of visiting new places and the opportunity to learn a foreign language - not to mention the gastronomic delights.
For those of you with a family to consider, the choices are either to commute (weekly or fortnightly) or to take your family with you. There are good international schools in most business areas in Europe providing a high standard of education.
On the financial side, taking professional advice at the outset can save time and money. Of course, tax and social security payments are inevitable but your choice of managed service (payroll) company will determine best value.
Working overseas is easier than you may think. B & M has a long history of successfully placing specialists abroad and provides all kinds of assistance.
Why not call Melanie Thompson or e-mail her at people@bmeurope.com to discuss your plans?
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Tech View - Benefiting from the growth of SANs
The storage boom offers opportunities for contract specialists with a range of skills - not just the obvious ones. Paul Smith, Technical Manager at B & M explains
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Managing storage is increasingly a major consideration for today's businesses. The massive rise in use of the Internet and 24x7 operations have contributed to huge increases in the volume of data that needs to be retained - leading to bigger and bigger 'oceans' of data to store and manage.
By using Storage Area Networks (SANs), organisations are now able to create 'islands' of data through which the main corporate network of client PCs and servers connects to a storage controller, which in turn connects to physical storage where enterprise data is held.
These 'data islands' often consist of several storage controllers and disk arrays with their own fibre optic network connecting the different islands via host bus adapter (HBA) circuits, routers and switches. Beyond this, organisations tend to use RAIDs or JBoDs (Just a Bunch of Disks) to enable data to be backed up and managed directly from the SAN cluster, rather than tying up network bandwidth and processing power on the main enterprise servers.
This complexity means that SANs are certainly not cheap or simple to implement. In addition, it is rare to find an organisation that has all the disparate skills needed to make them work in-house. This offers a wealth of opportunities for specialists with skills in networking (both optical and gigabit ethernet); fibre switch and edge connection technology; RAID and, of course, storage management to provide valuable expertise.
In the next issue we will look at the skills needed in the area of Network Attached Storage (NAS).
To find out more about using your storage skills, visit B & M's jobs page at www.bmeurope.com/vacancies.html
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Specialist Profile
Continuing our series of profiles of highly-qualified specialists, this issue of B & M Bulletin profiles senior network specialist Alan Watthey, who lives with his family in France, near Geneva
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Alan Watthey is a senior network specialist with 28 years experience working in software development environments at customer sites throughout Europe.
His experience extends from SNA networking through to working in TCP/IP environments, including LANs, WANs and routers, and designing and implementing disaster recovery procedures.
Alan was originally employed for his SNA skills, but as the organisation's network has developed and changed over the years, he has augmented these with TCP/IP and Cisco knowledge and skills.
Alan believes that longer term contracts can provide the ideal opportunity for specialists to enhance their skills and to plug any potential skills gaps. "People worry that they will 'use up' their skills on contract, but it doesn't have to be like that", he explains. "If you get involved in projects you learn a lot and as you get to know the working practices of the client, you can help them better customise their products. Consequently, both parties benefit?.
Now living in France near Geneva with his family, Alan is currently working for a major US-based manufacturing company with facilities throughout Europe, where he has been working in the network group on continuous contracts since 1997.
Being based near Geneva suits Alan and his family well. They enjoy horseback riding and skiing - both of which are available near to their home. Yet flights from Geneva are frequent enough that he can easily be in his UK office for a meeting by 9.30 in the morning.
To find out more about working in Europe, contact people@bmeurope.com
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Real Skills Real People - B & M's Amanda Spencer
Get to know more about our people and discover that their expertise helps generate the best opportunities for IT contract specialists
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Account Manager Amanda Spencer began working in IT some 15 years ago, having originally trained as a weaver. She realised that to succeed in any business she needed a better grounding in the commercial world and, after testing the water in a variety of industries, found her true forte in the IT sector.
Her career took off when she began working for a niche value added reseller, providing system utilities and support for DEC PDP-11s, soon moving from an administrative role to providing system support and undertaking installations. The company also grew to encompass provision of Unix systems and Amanda revealed new talents in a more customer-facing role, and began selling the technology, later being appointed a Director of the company.
With the dot com boom, in 2000 she joined an Application Service Provider (ASP) as Strategic Account Manager to develop relationships with the prime vendors, where she worked closely with Microsoft, Compaq, Cisco and Citrix to build the platform, and with major application software vendors such as CA, Navision and BMC for the product. Amanda later transferred to the distribution arm of the company as a Business Development Manager and subsequently took a position with one of its System Integrator customers selling networked solutions.
Amanda joined B & M as an Account Manager in spring 2004 and now applies her technical knowledge and interpersonal skills looking after customers and specialists alike.
Out of the office, Amanda will jump at any opportunity involving fast cars and racetracks - although it will be hard to beat her current zenith of the quarter mile in 8.5 seconds at the wheel of a dragster. She is also working toward her ultimate goal to spend her life underwater by becoming a SCUBA Diving Instructor and helping with marine research and conservation projects in far flung - preferably warm and exotic - locations. She is even considering getting back to a spot of weaving in the evenings.
To contact Amanda or any of her colleagues, email people@bmeurope.com
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Current work opportunities
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If you are coming to the end of a contract, or are considering contracting in the near future, have a look at some of the current vacancies on our web site at www.bmeurope.com - then just click on Vacancies to view opportunities in the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe.
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B & M has specialised in delivering skilled ICT specialists to meet the needs of leading organisations throughout Europe since 1992. We focus exclusively on providing consultancy, technical services and support for z/OS, UNIX and Linux enterprise systems, including third-party systems software, open systems and networking connectivity. We add real value for HR and IT professionals by taking the time to understand their needs and applying best practice methods to deliver results. To find out more about our approach to providing the best skills for each business, go to www.bmeurope.com B & M Europe Limited
www.bmeurope.com
+44 (0)118 981 1880
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