Nathan John Sowatskey

BSc(Hons.) CEng MBCS

DOB: 16-6-68 Nationality: UK/US

 

Education:

 

1987-1991          BSc(Hons.) Computer Science, University College London

 

Background:

Nathan is currently working for Cisco as a technical lead in the Aggregation Business Unit on web enablement for Service Selection and Subscription.

 

Nathan has been involved in software development for over 14 years. His commercial background is divided between finance and telecommunications and his technical background is strongly based on OO practices using Java and C++. He is also running JSIG. Nathan has been a speaker at conferences and other events on Java, XML and OO technology.

 

Nathan’s financial experience includes stints at Salomon Bros., Merrill Lynch, IBJ, Nomura and JP Morgan where he has worked on both front and back office systems as well as corporate infrastructure and strategic architecture. In the telecommunications field Nathan has worked for BT in the UK on Concert, for Telkom in South Africa on telematics systems and in a leading role for SAIX, the main provider for Internet connectivity in SA, for AUCS in Amsterdam on content management and hosting solutions and for Cisco in Europe on broadband management gateway systems.

 

Nathan’s personal interests include reading, wine, cooking, eating, Bridge, classical music, cycling, hiking, swimming, roller hockey, sailing and travelling. Nathan was born in the UK, lived in the US until he was eight, followed by many years in the UK, then South Africa, then the UK and now Madrid.

 

Career History:

 

Jan 2001 – Technical Leader Cisco – Madrid and London

Technical lead in the Aggregation Business Unit on web enablement for Service Selection and Subscription.

March 2000-Jan 2001– Java systems consultant to Cisco – Amsterdam and London

I was retained by Cisco to design, develop and deploy Java Web Server applications. I joined permanently in January 2001.

 

January 2000 - August 2000 – Java and M-Commerce consultant to ConciseMobile –London

I am retained by Concise Mobile as a strategic advisor and principal consultant for Java and mobile commerce development and software engineering including client engagements.

 

September 1999 - August 2000 – Java and M-Commerce consultant to Jeecom – Dublin and London

I am retained by Jeecom as a strategic advisor for Java development, application hosting and other aspects of e-commerce development and software engineering.

 

September 1999 – November 1999 Content Management and Hosting Consultant for AUCS Communication Services – Amsterdam and London

Investigating and designing solutions for application hosting and content management as part of an investigation into value added services for AUCS’s Internet Transit service.

 

My role as a consultant was to oversee the conceptual development of the service description and to act as technical lead for the design of the technical platform for the services. I was also responsible for helping identify service packages based on the technical capabilities of the organisation.

 

During the investigation we examined the role of layer 3 and 4 switching, caching, replication, clustering and aspects of intelligent traffic management including DNS, router and switch based redirection.

 

June 1998 – August 1999 Java Architect, JP Morgan, London

Java architect in a team developing a Java/CORBA/SmallTalk based n-tier distributed architecture for the Kapital project (pricing and risk management for hybrid and flow derivatives).

We implemented the CORBA IDL interfaces for the Smalltalk server, a Java based distributed infrastructure that provides fail over and load balancing using bespoke Java implementations of the CORBA services and a variety of Java and DHTML clients with Servlets using a variety of Java Application Servers.

XML was used as a message format language to describe the financial data and operations passed between the calculation and database servers developed in Smalltalk and clients.

VAJ with Envy was used as the NT based development tool for the Java clients. For the DHTML clients we used Servlets in the Tengah and the IBM WebSphere servers with Dreamweaver and Netscape’s JavaScript development suite for the client.

March 1998 – May1998, Private consultancy and training

Working with a number of training and consulting organisations to provide training and consultancy in Java and CORBA.

 

June 1996 – February 1998, Strategic Architecture, Nomura, London

Having joined Nomura to start the Java program I worked directly with the Chief Architect of Nomura’s information systems within the Strategic Infrastructure Group. The areas for which I had responsibility included:

·        Specifying, designing, implementing and supporting Nomura’s Java infrastructure and Java development projects.

·        Initiating and managing early access programs and evaluations for Java and web technology.

·        Liaison between strategic technology partners and internal customers pursuant to Nomura’s IT architecture strategies for Java and web development.

·        Strategy and Planning for Java development tools and components, web infrastructure and development and implementation of architecture strategies.

·        Emerging Technologies, investigating products and developments which might provide some advantage to Nomura’s technology strategy.

 

The initial Java evaluation project, which I specified, designed, developed and delivered ahead of schedule, was a great success and led to Nomura’s widely reported adoption of Java technology. I also worked closely with JavaSoft and Sun on a number of Java technologies where our advice as an early adopter was sought. This work was carried out Java correspondent to Nomura’s strategy to work towards a Java centred IT infrastructure based on CORBA.

 

December 1995 - May 1996, Project Manager software systems SAIX, Cape Town

SAIX is the South African Internet Exchange Project set up by Telkom. I joined the project shortly after its inception to design, and hire a team to implement, integrated network management, help desk and trouble ticket systems. The work has since been completed successfully to the original specification.

 

January 1995 - December 1995, Team Leader, UNIBase, Cape Town

UNIBase is the integrated network management and fault handling system for Telkom’s Telematics (non-voice data) services. I joined UNIBase as a result of seeking a job in Cape Town after travelling through Africa. My role was to specify, design and develop the traffic billing/journalling systems for a number of existing and new services. In addition, I also provided training and advice for OO development in C++.

 

November 1993 - August 1994, Software Engineer, IBJ, London

I joined IBJ to work on the development in C++ of a prototype bond trading system as proof of concept for a distributed platform based on the ISIS SDK. My main responsibilities were the GUI trade sheet and technical infrastructure. In addition I was responsible for design and documentation maintenance for the software infrastructure.

 

May 1993 - November 1993, Analyst Programmer, Merrill Lynch, London

The bulk of my time with Merrill Lynch was spent developing a client management system for the Corporate Bond Sales team. In addition, I also provided support for some back office functions and contributed to the development of a C++ infrastructure for corporate development.

 

March 1993 - May 1994, Software Engineer, BTCS, Fleet

BT Customer Services had developed a satellite transmissions and control system for the European Broadcasting Union. I carried out modifications to the software to make up for shortcomings in its functionality whilst working to ISO9001 standards. In addition, I also provided training to the graduate engineers who were working on the project.

 

August 1991 - February 1993, Software Engineer, Concert, BT, Martlesham Heath

Concert (now called Service View) is the software that underlies BT’s ability to manage end-to-end international telecommunications. My main role on the project was to design and develop, over a number of releases, the graphical interface for the creation and manipulation of managed objects. In addition, I also implemented performance improvements to overcome CMIP bottlenecks. The work was carried to ISO9001 standards.

 

July 1990 - November 1990, Analyst Programmer, Salomon Bros., London

Working with the back office audit team, I provided support to existing systems and developed additional software where required.

 

November 1988 - August 1989, Analyst Programmer, Salomon Bros., London

Having initially joined Salomons to develop a support system for human resources (which is still in use as of 12/97) I then worked with the IT finance director to successfully develop an IT billing system which accounted for all IT spend by all Salomon departments for purposes of product profitability.

 

January 1988 - September 1988, Self employed Analyst Programmer

Programming jobs for small businesses.

 

July 1987 - August 1987, Analyst Programmer, MaS Research

Development of software to support the Housing Association movement.

 

August 1986 - May 1987, Analyst Programmer/Network support, Addison Consultancy Group, London

The Group was undergoing a period of expansion when I was hired for two weeks of data entry for a payroll system on a Novell network. The position evolved to the point where I was responsible for running the network and implementing the payroll and personnel systems.

 

Technology:

(experience in years)

Oss

Solaris (12)

HPUX(2)

Windows(9)

NT(4)

MacOS 7/8 (5)

Middleware

CORBA(3)

EJB(1)

Languages

Java(3)

C++(10)

JavaScript(1)

SQL (7)

Database

Sybase (5)

Oracle (2)

Ingres (1.5)

Web

Apache (2)

WebLogic Tengah(1)

Netscape Suitespot (.5)

HTML (3)

DHTML(1)

XML(1)

Toolkits

JDK1.1.x/2.x (3)

JGL (2)

JFC(1)

Jclass(3)

Servlets(1.5)

RogueWave Tools.h++ (3)

Development Tools

VisualAge for Java (2)

Macromedia Dreamweaver (1)

Netscape’s JavaScript tools (1)

Rational Rose(1)

 

Methodologies

UML (1)

Booch (2)

Rumbaugh (2)

Network Management

HPOV (.5)

SNMP (1)

CMIP(2)