COMPANY DETAILS =============== Novacaster Ltd Registered in England No. 4878806 VAT Registration No. 823 5447 31 E: info@novacaster.com W: PERSONAL DETAILS ================ Name: Simon George Banton (Director, Novacaster Ltd) Address: Available on request (near Stonehenge, UK) Telephone: Available on request EMail: cv-response@web.org.uk Web: Nationality: British Marital Status: Married Date of Birth: 29th August 1964 EDUCATION ========== 1975 - 1982 Wirral Grammar School, Cross Lane, Bebington, ----------- Wirral, Merseyside 11 O' Levels: 6A, 4B, 1C 4 A' Levels: Maths(A), Further Maths(B), Physics(B), General Studies(A) 1982 - 1985 Imperial College of Science and Technology, ----------- South Kensington, London Degree: B.Sc Physics Additional: Associateship of the Royal College of Science 1997 - 1998 City University ----------- London Course*: Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian Literature * part-time EXPERIENCE ========== Summary ------- Simon first began programming in 1977. He has been involved in online systems since 1990, and the Internet since 1992. His primary technical skills are in Perl5, Apache, Linux and MySQL, coupled with a solid understanding of HTML. Having been building websites of one form or another since the inception of widespread dialup internet access in the UK, with his own website going live in 1994, Simon has a wealth of experience to draw upon when advising clients in a technical consultancy role. He has worked for a range of Internet companies including ISPs, "dot com" startups, established media organisations and online communities. Operating Systems: MacOS, Linux, SunOS, Solaris 2.x, Windows, CISCO IOS. Languages: Perl5, HTML, JavaScript, SQL, UNIX shells, PHP. Software: WebServers - Apache, Netscape, NCSA, WebStar, CERN WebCache - Harvest Object Database RDBMS - Oracle8, MySQL, mSQL Design - Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator, Aldus FreeHand, Aldus PageMaker, Quark XPress Other - Raster file conversion tools HTML authoring and conversion tools Recordable CD authoring Internet protocol client/server tools Serial comms tools net.Analysis and Analog weblog tools Accipiter banner ad management system Oracle Application Server NSAPI integration August 2003 - current ===================== Technical Director and co-founder of Novacaster Ltd. Formed Novacaster Ltd with Hugo van der Sanden and acquired the rights to the Novacaster software from Webtastic Ltd. The software has now been re-engineered to extend its capabilities considerably. The home page of carries links to a selection of our current client sites. Recent additions to the client portfolio include: - an online community about renewable energy - a news and information site for small businesses in the construction industry - the Foreign Press Association in London April 2001 - August 2003 ======================== Consultant Technical Director for Webtastic Ltd, with responsibility for all technical activities of the company. These activities include maintaining ADSL and leased line connectivity for the company's offices in Southampton and London, maintenance and system administration of the company's hosted webservers servicing client websites which have included: The Professional Contractors Group The Chartered Institute of Taxation The Association of Taxation Technicians The Royal Institution of Naval Architects CVTick Shout99 The James Parkinson Centre The All-Party Parliamentary Small Business Group QDOS Accounting Answers JSA The Genesis Initiative The Trade Association Forum Programme manager for the company's software development, including NovaCaster . Administrator/developer of the Novacaster Community PROJECTS since April 2000 ========================= Webtastic Ltd ------------- All these projects utilise Perl5 + MySQL + Apache + Linux. Designed and built CVTick , a CV validation service. PCG = The Professional Contractors Group website . Designed and built MP Lobbying Database system for the PCG. Designed and built Contract Review system for the PCG. Designed and built IR35 Self Assessment Questionnaire for the PCG. Customisation and bugfixing of the web forum software for the PCG. POPTEL ------ Consultancy on web strategy and rollout of web forum software. NT/Perl/IIS. RealGarden ---------- Customisation of Perl-based web forums, SQLServer/MySQL user database synchronisation. Linux/Perl/Apache. iCrunch ------- Consultancy on selection of web advertising and web log analysis tools. CONTRACT HISTORY ================ 30/9/98 - 31/3/2000 IPC Magazines ------------------- Kings Reach Tower Stamford Street London SE1 9LS Job Title: WebMaster/Technical Consultant (contract) Responsible for day to day management and development of the core infrastructure for IPC's 30+ websites including, but not limited to: http://www.nme.com http://www.uploaded.com http://www.countrylife.co.uk http://www.amateurphotographer.com http://www.marieclaire.co.uk http://www.ipc.co.uk http://www.ybw.com on a suite of Sun Enterprise 450s located in PSINet's London Hosting Centre. Skills employed: Perl5 development, Solaris 2.6 sysadmin, NetScape Enterprise webserver admin, HTML and graphic design, Oracle8 admin, Oracle Application Server admin, technical consultancy. Projects: web discussion forums, mailing lists (MajorDomo), development of a library of reusable Perl5 code for dynamic page generation, integration of Accipiter banner advert management system company-wide, integration of Oracle Application Server tools, relaunch of company Intranet, development and implementation of new "Country Life" website, documentation of legacy Perl codebase, liaison with Audit Bureau of Circulation for site traffic certification, online subscription ordering system, ecommerce development. Further notes: technical liaison for BeMe.com and UnmissableTV.com providing integration of netAnalysis for traffic reporting and Accipiter for banner advertising. 1/8/98 - 1/9/98 Imagineering Technologies Ltd --------------- 34 Frederick Street, London Job Title: Technical consultant (contract) Projects: o architecture for global multimedia delivery website - audio on demand. o architecture for online catalog of specialist training materials. 1/5/98 - 31/7/98 Vacation - Egyptian archaeology project research ---------------- EMPLOYMENT HISTORY ================== 3/7/96 - 30/4/98 Interactive Investor International ---------------- 105 - 109 Strand, London WC2R 0AB Job Title: Head of Technology/WebMaster Designed and implemented: o online stock portfolio application. o sitewide banner advert delivery, management and reporting system. o automated email -> web publishing system for industry newsfeed. o migration path of web architecture from Netscape to Apache servers. o email and web based online community tools (mailing lists, web board). o office network infrastructure (hardware and software). o ecommerce solution for online bookstore. Integrated a number of financial information datafeeds (FT Extel, S&P Comstock) with the site. Recommended and implemented options for migration of network connectivity between different ISPs. Performed penetration testing and improved security model to protect site integrity. Installed, configured and managed all webservers on an ongoing basis. Trained staff in the understanding and application of Internet technologies. Provided technical advice to internal and external clients. Coordinated team of web developers. Webmaster for the following URLs: http://www.iii.co.uk/ http://preview.iii.co.uk/ http://sanwa.iii.co.uk/ http://www.elson.iii.co.uk/ http://www.johnsonfry.iii.co.uk/ http://www.ifa.co.uk/ http://fee.ifa.co.uk/ http://edfd.ifa.co.uk/ http://www.fundindex.co.uk/ http://ifa.galife.co.uk/ http://www.i-markets.com/ http://www.offshore.net/ http://www.standardlife.com/ http://www.standardlife.de/ http://www.edfd.com/ http://www.cii.co.uk/ http://www.cal-it.com/ 19/4/96 - 1/7/96 Vacation - Working on Picasso project ---------------- 18/4/95 - 19/4/96 Compulink Information eXchange (CIX) Ltd ----------------- 1 Sundial Court, Tolworth Rise South Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 9RN Job Titles: Senior Support Engineer WebMaster Initially employed as Senior Support Engineer, providing Macintosh support and Internet troubleshooting skills for CIX Conferencing customers and other members of the Support staff. Compiled and documented Mac software suite for use with CIX Internet. Designed and produced sales literature for launch of CIX Internet. Primary customer liaison point of contact for enquiries about the forthcoming Internet service. Technical liaison with CIX Business Development Manager, ahead of Press interviews. Promoted to WebMaster (Operations) just prior to launch of CIX Internet. Responsible for all aspects of the creation, maintenance, support, and development of the CIX Website including the production of tutorial areas, Frequently Asked Questions lists, cgi-bin scripts and the design and authoring of Harvest log file webstats analysis and user-delivery mechanisms. 1/9/94 - 8/4/95 R&B Creative Services Ltd --------------- Unit 8, Worton Hall Estate, Worton Road Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 6ER Job Title: Technical Director/Network Manager Employed to set up and manage new Colour Output and CD-Recordable Bureau as an in-house service to both R&B's existing publishing house clients and the wider graphics design market. Responsible for specifying, installing and maintaining all bureau equipment, as well as providing the day-to-day service to customers. Also responsible for implementing and maintaining Mac-based office Ethernet LAN, file and print servers and providing consultancy to customers sending files across a direct modem or Internet connection. The bureau services consisted of dye sublimation colour output to A4 and A3 size using Kodak XLT7720 and Tektronix Phaser480 printers, 35mm slide imaging using LaserGraphics Personal LFR file recorder, CD-Recording using Plasmon RF4100 CD-R system and image capture using UMAX PowerLook 30-bit scanner. Jan 92 - Sep 94 IMC Colour Output Bureau ---------------- 281 St Leonards Road, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 3DR Job Title: Bureau Manager Employed to set up high quality Colour Output Bureau using new dye sublimation technology from Kodak. Also incorporated 35mm slide imaging, image capture and early CD-Recordable technology. Became profitable 3 months after startup, and invoiced sales of £125,000 in first year of operation with no additional staff. Provided Mac technical support to IMC hardware sales department and to customers (bureau and hardware sales). Additional Information: I became heavily involved in network comms and online services at this time, firstly through AppleLink and a number of proprietary BBS then soon after via my own dialup IP account, providing an ongoing informal consultancy to bureau customers who wanted to get into datacomms and the Internet. This progressed to providing the facility for customers to send their files for output via a number of direct modem, BBS and Internet methods. This culminated in the project detailed below: In July 1994, the Science Photo Library in London commissioned me to retrieve, output and deliver hardcopy dye sublimation prints of all available images of the Jupiter/Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet collision, retrieved via the Internet directly from a number of NASA and other institutes' ftp and web sites. Throughout the week of the multiple collisions of the comet fragments with the planet, I was constantly online monitoring the Internet for the latest information about newly released images from tens of observatories around the world, and the Hubble Space Telescope Institute. The images and other information about the collision were retrieved via my 14k4 dialup IP account into a Macintosh Quadra 700, manipulated in Adobe PhotoShop to remove specks and other artifacts and then output on a Kodak XLT7720 dye sub printer. These were then couriered to SPL's Cambridge photo facility where the prints were rostrum shot to 5x4" transparency, duped to 70mm and then placed in SPL's image bank for use by their customers. Turnaround time from an image being made available via the Internet to its inclusion in the library was typically 24 hours, often faster. These comet impact images were used by national newspapers and international publications as early as the following day. Feb 89 - Jan 92 Cimage International Ltd --------------- Centennial Court, Easthampstead Road, Bracknell, Berkshire Job Titles: Desktop Publishing Specialist Marketing Communications Manager Responsible for design, creation and production of all marketing, sales and customer documentation (brochures, presentation material, manuals) to support the company's Document Image Processing and Electronic Document Management systems. Gained in-depth knowledge of Mac-based publishing and traditional offset litho technologies, along with valuable experience in keeping a company centralised in a rapidly shifting marketplace. Sept 86 - Feb 89 Thorn EMI Electronics Ltd ---------------- Blyth Road, Hayes, Middlesex Job Titles: Technical Author Desktop Publishing Specialist Initially employed as technical author for Radar division, working to defence standards JSP182/183/188 in the documentation of ECM and ECCM systems. Moved on to electronic document publishing using first generation DTP systems (Xerox Documenter and NBI ProPublisher 5000) and colour output equipment (Canon CLC-1 colour laser copier). Sept 85 - Sept 86 Marconi Communications Systems Ltd ----------------- Westway, Chelmsford, Essex Job Title: Professional Engineer (Technical Author) Employed in Graduate Engineer program to write technical documentation for communication systems. HOBBIES AND INTERESTS ===================== Online communities and the development of the Internet as a global resource, art history , philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, theology, linguistics, ancient mythology, Egyptology, education and the clear communication of ideas, music (playing of and listening to), technology, astronomy and space science, classic vehicles, preserved railways, science fiction and gardening. REFERENCES ========== Available on request. NOTES ===== This CV is provided in plain text format for reasons of speed, size and widest compatibility. For examples of artwork and design, please see http://web.org.uk/ The latest version of this document is kept online at: http://web.org.uk/personal/cv/cv.txt Last updated: December 2006