Category: Weekend

something for the weekend – interesting non work related posts

Categories
End User fun stuff

Me and Sir Viv Richards go way back

Sir Viv Richards, Umar Bajwa, Trefor Davies,Timico,MurcoOne of my massive cricketing heroes is Sir Viv Richards and I was privileged to sit at the same table with him at lunch in the City yesterday. Click on the header for a bigger shot – the guy on the left is my friend Umar Bajwa who is IT Director at the Murphy Oil Company (Murco).

We were treated to four hours or so of entertainment that included very interesting anecdotes from Sir Viv and also from Australian Fast bowler Rodney Hogg (41 wickets at 12.85 during the ’78-79 Ashes series for those who like to know these things).

This being a Friday I have another competition for you.  Who is the black guy to the right of Viv Richards in the small inset photo?Sir Viv Richards, Australian,Rodney Hogg I had not heard of him myself but I’m sure that many will have seen him in action. Again click on the photo for a bigger image. Usual prize is up for grabs (while stocks last). He is also in a couple of the photos below.

friend appears again in bottom left of photo but who is he?

The final photo  is of the auction of a signed print of a photo of Rod Hogg taking the wicket of Sir Geoffrey Boycott. There was not much love lost between both speakers and the bold Sir Geoff. The photo was  signed  by Rod not Geoff.

Print of Rod Hogg bowling Geoffrey Boycott auctioned for charity

sir viv richardsI have to sit on my hands on these occasions otherwise I end up coming away with auction prizes as a “surprise” for my wife.

At a Lincoln rugby club charity dinner I was once used as a stalking horse by an auctioneer trying to drive the price up. Having made the initial bid for a signed photo of the Red Arrows I firmly sat on my hands. The whole room, however, thought I had bought the photo and imagine my wife’s surprise when, after picking the kids up from school the next day, she was asked if she liked her new photo.  Funnily enough she could think of better things to do with a couple of hundred quid 🙂

By the way if you are wondering about the title of this post what I really mean is that I went to see Viv Richards play at Trent Bridge in 1984. He had just scored a massive 189 in the game at Old Trafford and received a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked out to the the crease. Despite being England fans we were there to see the great Viv Richards score a big one. You have to imagine the stunned and disappointed silence of the crowd when he was out caught behind for two runs. Ah well at least I saw him play and have now had lunch with him 🙂

PS Nobody won last weeks competition but  I did get two comments so if you can let me have your address there will be a mug in the post for you.

Categories
Apps competitions End User

My camera keeps ringing – massive prize competition

Horseguards,Parade,changing,guard,Galaxy S2,Timico,competitionI had a full day of meetings in London on Wednesday. At 2.30pm I finished one and I needed to be in Westminster for the next one at 3.15. It was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to walk and made my way down through St James’ Park to Horseguards Parade.

We do have an impressive capital city and I happened to be there as they were changing the horseguards. With a few minutes to spare before the meeting I joined the tourists and got my Galaxy S2 camera out. As I was taking a photo the camera rang! Annoying huh? They will add phone functionality to useful personal gadgets.

That particular photo was lost but

Continue reading “My camera keeps ringing – massive prize competition”
Categories
End User travel

I’m off on holiday again – different kind of surfing

surfboards at Llangenith, Rhossili Beach, Gower

No more posts until after the Bank Holiday. This time we are going surfing on the Gower peninsula where there is of course no mobile signal to speak of and therefore no internet connection and no surfing the web. I’m sure the residents don’t like that situation but us tourists do.

When I get back it’s going to be an uber busy Autumn and I look forward to re-engaging with everyone fully refreshed and having used up all my annual leave allowance.

Ciao (or hwyl, seeing as I’m of to Wales).

Header photo was taken last August at Rhosili beach (far away in time).

Categories
Cloud End User surveillance & privacy travel

Fancy popping down to the library for a coffee?

British Library with St Pancras Station in the background

Popped in to the British Library for a coffee yesterday en route to a meeting. It’s handily placed next to Kings Cross Station and I had only been there once before when I gave a talk on the likely impact of the DEAct on public intermediaries such as libraries and universities.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the place but it did make me think what will happen when all books are available electronically? In theory people will have much less reason to visit a library, other than for a quick coffee and, in the case of the British library to view some “ancient treasures”. This potentially must go down as a great source of sadness.

I’m probably not a good example though since I don’t usually like to borrow books from a library or anywhere else.  This is because, for those of you unfamiliar with the system, you have to give them back. I’m sorry but online doesn’t cut it for me either. I have to have bookcase lined walls where I can identify old favourites by the colour of the spine. I have kindle on my iPad but have only ever downloaded free, “out of copyright” books – Darwin, Marx, Plato et al. Good stuff I know but they are a better read on paper.

So how will our behaviour towards books change when everything is online? Will an online librarian ask you to turn the music down, or the TV? Ssshhh for kindle’s sake.  Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Categories
Business Cloud competitions

Announcing the Timico fairy cake champion

Timico fairy cake competition

At Timico we now have a champion fairy cake maker to add to the long list of other cake making honours within theTimico fairy cake competition company.

This time the winner is engineer Stephen Burdock who spends his days sorting out  customer problems and clearly must spend some of his evenings practising his baking skills.

As usual the standard of entries was top notch and the produce is available to purchase at £1 each – all moneys to charity.

Thanks to the judges, including Powernet’s marketing manager John Heritage and to all the other entrants who put so much effort into the competition.

The picture on the right is a cross section of the winning cake before being demolished by the judges. It’s nice to see blokes winning these competitions:)

Categories
competitions End User

#Beckham baby named Harper Seven – defeats all name competition entrants

I’m thrilled to tell you that the Beckhams have named their baby daughter Harper Seven. Nobody came close to guessing this. Becks has played a canny game here as he knew people were thinking of place names. Instead he went for a time – he is quoted as saying “It’s about time we had a girl”.

The actual birth was, I thought 07.55am so either the Beckhams have gone for the nearest obvious name (who ever heard of a girl called seven fifty five?), their clock was wrong at the actual time of naming or half past seven was the time of conception.
We may never find out.

What is sure is that the England ladies football team will be looking forward to 2029 when Harper (or it be Seven?) will be eligible to play. She may of course opt to play for the country of her birth. By then it will probably be down to who is offering the most lucrative sponsorship contracts but hey, that is for the future.

For now let us all join in congratulating the Beckham family on their new addition and hope that in these exciting early days they are given the appropriate degree of privacy. Those of us who also have kids know how hard it can be to keep looking good after being up half the night feeding the kid and changing nappies (diapers).

There is no competition winner but I am pleased to provide a prize for @18days for letting me know the name and @timcoop3r for providing me with a link to the BBC website carrying the news of the name. If you guys want to let me have your postal details I’ll send you a mug each 🙂

Categories
competitions End User

Guess the name of the Beckham baby competition – big prize

I don’t know about you but I’m a big fan of the Beckhams and have been following all the latest news about the imminent birth of their fourth baby. I’m a big softie really.

Anyway we have been speculating around the office as to what the name might be. Milton Keynes,  Northampton, or even Peckham? Of course I’m not sure I even know what sex it is going to be (even though I have MarieClaire and Hello Magazine bookmarked) although that probably won’t matter when it comes to a name.

So in the interest in participating in the fun around the birthday I have decided to run a guess the baby’s name competition. Please enter your guesses as comments. The winner will receive a fine Timico mug in the post. I’m sure that this will be something they will cherish as a memento of the birth for years to come.

On this occasion, because it is such a happy event, entries are also open to Timico employees, their families and anyone they have ever met – even very casual acquaintances  whose name you can’t actually remember.

I’m looking forward to following the birth live on Twitter – If I know those clever folks at @hellomag they will have secured the tweeting rights. Follow the #hellomag or #beckhambaby hashtags to stay up to the minute with all the contractions (or incisions).

To get the ball rolling I am going to suggest Brian if it is a boy and Catherine if it is a girl. Good luck. It’s a great mug to win. Note if there are any issues re spelling etc my decision is final 🙂

PS I wonder if the Beckhams would like a Timico mug. They always come in handy you know and with 4 kids…

PPS I met David Beckham once you know at the launch of Virgin Media Business – photo here.

 

Categories
Business events

Timico annual watersports evening and BBQ

Timico Kayaking polo team captain Gemma Jankiewicz carries the ball

Trefor Davies at the Timico annual watersports and barbecue eveningLast Timico annual watersports and barbecue eveningnight we had our annual Timico watersports and BBQ evening. Another highly successful bash I must say.  The weather was somewhat damp to start off but seeing as everyone was going to get wet anyway it didn’t matter and the sun came out before we started the barbecue bit.

The format is becoming settled. We all jump in and get wet – ideally making stupid noises and impressive summersaults (nil points generally for the latter).  Then we have a go at seal launches on sit on top kayaks.  After that we crack on with team competitions.

This year it was a kayaking polo match with team captains Gemma Jankiewicz and Katie Nicholas leading the way.  At the risk of boring you with work stuff I have to say that Gemma and Katie are great examples of our graduate recruitment scheme working to everyone’s advantage.

Finally, when we are all plum tuckered out we retire to the deck for a barbecue and a few tinnies, unless of course one is driving in which case a cup of tea is fine 🙂

That’s all.  Last photos are of Gemma (left) and Katie (right) and Simon Spear (I think) scoring a goal – not the winning one – that would have been me a little later on 🙂

gemma jankiewicz Timico Timico kayak polo in actionkatie nicholas

 

Categories
End User olympics

Olympic mania starts early


I’ve applied for my Olympic tickets in the ballot. Not cheap for a family of six but hey, how often are we going to get the Olympic games at home?

The ISP industry is already trying to get its collective brain round the impending “Olympic problem”. A great deal of planning went into ensuring that users had a great experience during the 2010 football  World Cup in South Africa.  It may be recalled that the UK was responsible for something like 21% of global streaming traffic during the weekday England afternoon match.

I am expecting the Olympics to take us to even greater heights, certainly in terms of actual bandwidth used if not in terms of percentages aka the football – there is likely to be a far more evenly spread demand due to the truly global and eclectic nature of these games.

This problem is near impossible to model. How many people will take the two weeks off and therefore not be in the office to use their internet connection? I imagine that it will be harder for consumer ISPs as even if you are at home watching the games on TV people have now got into the habit of also watching it on the internet/participating in twitter streams/keeping up with real time text inputs.

This is going to be an interesting subject and I’ll post the odd update as we get nearer the games. Note that in doing some cursory research on this I wondered about South Africa’s own internal internet usage during the World Cup.

A search for “internet bandwidth use in south africa during the world cup” yielded the following result:

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 18 October 2010 — Due to the high demand for bandwidth and other Internet connectivity challenges, video from The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization was delayed on Monday — but should be available soon. Technologists serving on the Congress staff have been working around the clock to resolve the issue.

‘This is an unprecedented level of Internet usage for the country of South Africa, even more than when the World Cup was here,’ explains Amy Donovan, Tech Squad Manager for the Congress. ‘We’re taking video of every single session and will be broadcasting it to the world as soon as our technical problems are solved.

This just goes to show that for some, unlike former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly,  football is not more important than life or death. I didn’t help me with Olympic traffic forecasts either:)

Categories
End User travel

Easter break

No blog posts this week.  Back after Easter.

Categories
Business competitions

The Betty Crocker Cake mix competition results


one of the runners up in the Timico Betty Crocker Cake mix competition was a cake by Luke Johnson depicting trefor.net

We have just had the first of the new season’s Timico Cake Competitions. This one was a Betty Crocker Cake mix competition.

So what’s special about a cake made from a shop bought standard kit do I hear you say? Well first of all it gave an opportunity for some people who don’t consider themselves to be skilled bakers to enter. Secondly you would be amazed at the variations you can get.

I have pictured all the cakes below for your delectation and delight. The winner was Jess Woods, pictured with me below. Jess’ cake was wonderfully gooey chocolate covered in M&Ms.  Slices available at £1 a go with proceeds going to charity.

Individual entries displayed here:

 

Categories
Business fun stuff

23 minutes on the phone to my insurance co – where automation can help in a big way

I have just been on the phone to my car insurance company to change the names of two of the kids! What I mean is I added them to the policy on Monday and the insurance company got both names wrong as well as not putting my wife’s full name on.

I had to call because I couldn’t risk the scenario of them having an “incident” and not being able to claim because of their details not being right.

This phone call took me 23 minutes and 35 seconds. This is a classic case for automation of the process. I was sat at the end of the phone waiting for someone at the other end to manually enter name corrections onto their (painfully slow) system.

Whilst I was on the phone I also realised that the activation date of the policy was wrong.

If I had been able to log onto a portal to make these changes it would have saved both of us time and trouble – remember I almost certainly had to go through the same process and time on Monday when I first added the kids to the policy.

I have tried automated portals for insurance policies before and found that I always ended up wanting to ask a question so I would abort the process and make a phone call.

We have the same problem in the communications industry. The initial sales contact often needs human involvement because the products are not straightforward. It might be simple enough to order a broadband connection online but usually there are other products and services involved. Businesses don’t buy just broadband and when you buy something you want to be sure you are buying the right product. It’s a stage at which you need expert advice.

We are  investing a huge amount of time and money in to this area. This is not a big bang process where one day you will come in and – wow – be amazed at the overnight change. There are many aspects of running the business that need to be accommodated.

The most important of these is customer support which is one of the first areas to be upgraded. I do expect though that when we have finished, if that can ever be the case when talking about continuous improvement, customers will find dealing with us a dream.

The goal is to avoid finding ourselves in the situation I have just described with the insurance company. Neither party ends up happy as we will have both had to waste time and money on a problem that I could have fixed on my own in 30 seconds had I had the tools to do it.

Simples.

Categories
Engineer events ipv6

Final lineup for Bring on IPv6 party

click to register

I am pleased nay thrilled to announce the final line up for the Bring on IPv6 bash.

Opening remarks Trefor Davies CTO & co-founder Timico

Introductory speech Ed Vaizey MP,  Minister for Communication, Culture and the Creative  Industries

IPv4 retrospective UK internet pioneer Prof Peter Kirstein UCL

IPv6 scene setting Simon McCalla, IT Director, Nominet

IPv6 Panel Debate “Should industry worry about IPv6?”

Adrian Kennard, MD AAISP, Andy Davidson, VP EMEA Hurricane Electric,  Jim Reid, Director, 6UK, Cisco Technical Staff Member

Ceremonials

Local handover of final IPv4 address block from IANA to RIPE – Leo Vegoda, IANA, Nigel Titley, Chairman RIPE NCC

Celebrity star guest – we are keeping the identity of this guest quiet but this will be a great finale.

Party time

Over 300 guests have signed up but thanks to the generosity of the sponsors we can still accommodate a few more. Drop me a line if you want to come and I will get your tickets sorted. Otherwise if you know the registration password you can do it yourselves at www.bringonipv6.com.

 

Categories
Engineer events internet ipv6

Move over IPv4 Bring on IPv6 event sold out but more sponsorship secured – expect more tickets to be available

click to register

The first tranche of tickets has all but sold out for this event. If when you register there are no more spaces don’t worry – just get your name on the waiting list. I’ve been able to secure additional sponsorship and expect to be able to increase the number of partygoers.

The demand for tickets has been amazing and I think reflects the fact that there is a lot of interest in both celebrating the exhaustion of the IANA IPv4 address pool (the end of the internet as we know it) and wanting to see what progress is being made re IPv6 implementation.

I am also pleased to say that we have a special star guest signed up for the event. I’m keeping his/her identity a secret for the moment but it will be worth the wait 🙂

I am just waiting for confirmation of one more panelist in the IPv6 debate before publishing the final lineup.

More anon. Click on the icon in the right hand column of this blog to go to the event website.

Categories
Engineer events internet ipv6

Moveover IPv4 Bring on #IPv6 Party

click to register

We are marking the end of the internet as we know it with a celebratory event on the evening of 22nd March at the Highly Prestigious London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

This gig isn’t just to bury IPv4 though. It is also a serious look at where the world is at with the roll out of IPv6.

If you are a techie in the internet community, a tech journalist or just as importantly an IT manager/CTO/CIO who might want to understand the relevance of IPv4 exhaustion to your business then you need to be here.

We have a nice little retrospective look at the history of the Internet in the UK by early Pioneer and colleague of Vint Cerf, Prof Peter Kirstein.

Also on stage will be speakers discussing the actual state of IPv6 rollout, the practicalities of implementation and the problems yet to be overcome.

Then we will be peering into a crystal ball and taking a look at the future of the internet and the www!

Finally there will be a ceremonial bit of fun whereby IANA will do a re-run of the handover of the last block of IPv4 addresses to RIPE.

Bring your camera. You will want to remember this one

What: Move Over IPv4 (Bring on IPv6)
Where: The London Transport Museum, Covent Garden
When: 18.30 – 21.30 Tuesday March 22nd (ceremonials commence 19.00hrs)
Agenda:
  • A brief history of the internet and the www by internet pioneer Prof Peter Kirstein.
  • What next? Is the world ready for IPv6? What are the problems?
  • The future of the internet!
  • Ceremonial repeat of formal handing over of the last IPv4 blocks by IANA representative to RIPE representative.
  • Party Time!
Cost: This is a free event but entry is by invitation only.

Registration (click here to go to the event site) for “bringonipv6” requires a password as attendance at the event is invitation only. The password is freely available from industry sources or will have already been mailed to you. If we have missed you out you can contact Trefor Davies at [email protected] with your details.

Many thanks need to go to the sponsors that have made this event possible. These are Nominet, LINX, Timico, ThinkBroadband, NewNet, AAISP, Brocade and 6UK.

Categories
Business charitable

Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research @radiotomdavies fundraising tour

My son Tom, who is now at Warwick University, has a schoolfriend Leo who has been diagnosed with Leukaemia. The interview below was put together by Tom who visited Leo at home over the weekend.

Tom is interested in a career in Radio and fits in a couple of days a week at Mercia Sound in Coventry as well as having a show on RaW, the university radio station.

This week the guys at RaW are having a fund raising drive for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. I say drive and mean that literaly – they are driving around 59 student radio stations in England with Tom spending 5 minutes on air at each location to appeal for donations.

Details can be found here. Justgiving page is here and tom’s website is here. Please donate whatever you can. You can also follow him on twitter at @radiotomdavies.

I realise that this post is slightly off topic for trefor.net but hey…

Categories
Business fun stuff

2011 – a year of frenetic change in prospect

a look ahead to 2011 in the technology space

iPad2,kindle3G,PlayBook,Galaxy,Zeus,Sony Vaio 3D,iPhone5,MacBook Air,Blackberry Torch,Nokia N8,HTC Desire HD,HTC 7 Trophy,LG Optimus 2X,Fossil Connected,impulse smartwatch,HTC tablet,Ubuntu Tablet,7” Dell Streak. Aaaaargggggh! Is there hope? Gadgets coming at us from all directions, no doubt accompanied by massive advertising spend.

Perhaps “Advertising” is the right business to be in for 2011?

Everyone is going be buying one or more of these gadgets. How do they choose the right one? What happens if the gadget they buy has a problem? Not everyone is a geek able to navigate support forums and self help guides. What happens if one of these gadgets is lost? Is it insured? Have you programmed the “phone finder” interface? What do you do?

Maybe supporting mobile gadgets is the right game to be in?

If you are in business these gadgets are going to want to sit on corporate networks. Most of the iPads in the Timico offices are owned personally by staff and not given to them by the company. Ditto iPhone and Android.

Continue reading “2011 – a year of frenetic change in prospect”
Categories
Business fun stuff

Happy Christmas to all on the blogosphere, twittersphere and everywhere else generally

Christmas tree at the Timico management party at Belvoir Castle

I’m a bit of a sentimental old softie really and I love this time of year. I like the warm glow of the traditional Christmas, the log fire blazing in the grate, the tree all beautifully lit up and presents piled high underneath, the pop of the champagne cork, the chink of glasses and the noise and laughter coming from within the pub. For once we even have proper Christmas weather!

I like Christmas Eve with the carol service from King’s College Cambridge on the radio, the last minute preparations for the next day,  I like to go to my local for early doors  and meet the same people we have met there every year for as long as I can remember. I like leaving the drink and mince pie out for Santa and not forgetting the carrot for Rudolf and I especially like the way that Christmas Eve is the easiest day of the year to get the kids to bed.

Continue reading “Happy Christmas to all on the blogosphere, twittersphere and everywhere else generally”
Categories
Business events

trefor.net christmas bash photos

Here are some pics from Friday’s tweetup, held on the platform bar of the Betjeman Arms in St Pancras station. The afternoon was a great success which was made possible in no small measure by the sponsors: BT Wholesale, Genband, Thinkbroadband and Timico. It was also very picturesque outside as the blizzards started to hit London. We stayed warm with Pol Roger champagne and bowls of chips. In fact we drank the pub dry of champagne and ate all of their very fine burgers.

Thanks to all who came. If you couldn’t make this one be sure to look out for the next trefor.net event. You can click to enlarge each photo.

Dean, Martyn and Lee

Suzie, Terry and Andrew

Richard and Adam

Chris and Kate

Matt, Paul, Luica and George

Ralph, Ian and Mark

Lucy and Tref

Categories
Business events

Trefor.net xmas tweetup in progress #trefparty

As you read this the trefor.net xmas tweetup is underway. We are using the #trefparty hashtag on twitter, assuming anyone remembers after a couple of drinks. I will endeavour to post some photos in real time during the bash. If you are close by you can still come along to the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras station.

Sorry if you couldn’t make it but look out for the next event in early 2011 where we will be marking the passing of the IPv4 era.

Categories
Business fun stuff

Will the real Gary Moore please stand up and play the guitar!

image of guitar strings

When I was a kid one of my favourite songs was Parisienne Walkways by Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore.  Imagine my delight when Gary just went and walked right into my office this afternoon. He was visiting Newark and I am honoured to inform you that he said he couldn’t come all this way without popping in to say hello.

Of course he isn’t a rock star any more – happens to the best of them. He now works as a broadband specialist for BT Wholesale. Still plays the guitar though. He saw the NetOps guitar in my office and went straight for it. And yes he sang that song. I don’t remember it being all in the chord of A but who am I to say?

Gary, I am please to say has only lost a little of his old touch. You have to keep practising I said to him and don’t lose touch with your roots. Anyway click on the header photo to see the real Gary Moore (thanks for being such a good sport).

Categories
Business fun stuff

Who will win the Nomura Varsity Match at Twickenham today?

Lincoln Rugby Club in the snow at the Lindum, December 2010

I’m off to the rugby today so this is a pre-recorded message. It’s the Varsity Match – the annual Oxford v Cambridge battle. Rugby isn’t really something you can play on a frozen pitch and apart from under-pitch heating or a covered roof there isn’t much that technology can do to prevent the game being cancelled if that is to be its fate. I don’t know at the time of writing.

Fortunately I’m not slumming it in the sub-zero artic conditions. I’m going to be having lunch in the Spirit of Rugby restaurant with a few drinks in the members lounge. The dress code is “number ones” so I will probably wear my Parliamentary Lions South Africa Tour blazer with perhaps my Pirates tie.

I’ve never been in the Royal Box before so I don’t know whether the seats are heated. Almost certainly not but don’t worry I will wrap up warm. As for the match? I don’t care who wins – I went to Bangor University where I am still a member of the Engineering Department’s Industrial Panel.

I’m sure that the sport itself will be the winner and I expect the internet will continue to grow without my help for a day.

The picture in the header is of my home club – Lincoln – games are off at the moment!

PS yes you are right – it is unashamed name dropping 🙂

PPS thanks to Alex Murphy for the tickets

PPPS if the match is cancelled don’t worry – I’m sure we will stay warm and usefully occupied

PPPPS (and this is definately the last one) – it’s my birthday today – thought you’d want to know 🙂

Categories
End User fun stuff

Winter on trefor.net

Proper winters on trefor.net

It hasn’t been often in my lifetime that we have had real winters that befit our position so far North on this globe. I have to say that the only downer as far as I am concerned from this weather is the fact that the Lincoln Christmas Market had to be cancelled.

The photo strips below are from my journey to work, one of which shows the problems they were going to have with holding the market. You can click on the photos to get a fuller version.

Proper winters on trefor.net

It is a privilege to live in such a beautiful city.

Proper winters on trefor.net

Problems setting up the funfair.

Proper winters on trefor.net

Tudor house in Castle Hill.

Proper winters on trefor.net

Just a short walk from my house.

Proper winters on trefor.net

Frozen milk on the doorstep.

Proper winters on trefor.net

And finally the view across the fields just after sunrise on the A46 on my way to the office in Newark.

PS I’m not going to send out Christmas cards to readers – you can just come back to this post and look at the pictures 🙂

Categories
Business events surveillance & privacy

Sponsorship from BT Genband Timico and Thinkbroadband for trefor.net Christmas bash

I am happy to announce that BT, Genband, Timico and Thinkbroadband have stepped forward with sponsorship for first annual trefor.net Christmas tweetup.

The party starts at 1pm on Friday 17th December in the platform bar of the Betjeman Arms in St Pancras Station. Get there early to avoid the crush – thanks to our sponsors the bar will now be free until the money runs out.

The guests already signed up come from a wide range of communities of interest including internet engineering, VoIP equipment, Parliament, DEAct, rural broadband, ISPs ITSPs, regulatory specialists, embedded software developers, oil and IT industry executives,consultants and the media.

If you haven’t already done so please sign up here

Some people who have expressed an interest in coming but unable to make this one have asked when the next one is going to be?  The end of the IPv4 address pool or  “Apocalypse IPv4”  party is already in planning for the Feb/March timeframe. The date for this one is TBC pending the exhaustion of the IANA address pool and will be the subject of a further announcement.

Expressions of interest from potential sponsors for the Apocalypse IPv4 event are now being taken. This should be of interest to carriers, equipment vendors and anyone else in the IPv6 space.

Categories
Cloud Engineer peering Weekend

New #LINX added value service – chutney peering at LINX71

Timico CTO Trefor Davies and Entanet CTO Steve Lalonde try out new chutney peering at London Internet Exchange (LINX) meeting

The internet is a continuously changing body of many thousands of networks small and large connected together, mostly for the greater good.  The functionality provided by the internet is growing at a mind boggling rate. The London Internet Excange (LINX) as one of the world hubs where these thousands of networks meet to exchange traffic has just expanded its remit to include chutney peering.

Chutney peering is very similar to the peering of  internet traffic. The photo in the header (courtesy of @thomasjelliott – click to see more) shows the worlds first ever chutney exchange at a LINX meeting. The two peers are Timico CTO Trefor Davies (left) and Entanet CTO Steve @routerfixer Lalonde.

Continue reading “New #LINX added value service – chutney peering at LINX71”
Categories
Business events

More tickets released for trefor.net Christmas tweetup

Due to the high level of demand I’ve added more places to the trefor.net Christmas bash on 17th December. It promises to be a great get together on what I’m told by the Betjeman Arms is their busiest day of the year.

So far we have a great mix of people coming along and I haven’t really started pushing it yet. Get your name down if you want to come.

Categories
Business events

Advanced notice trefor.net Christmas tweetup 17th December 2010 London

This is advanced notice of the trefor.net Christmas tweetup for tech writers, bloggers, friends of trefor.net and all round good guys.

This networking event begins at 1pm in the back bar of the Betjeman Arms on Friday 17th December 2010 and is a not to be missed opportunity to meet people who write about and influence happenings in the UK technology space today.

December is a busy time of year and I’m giving plenty of warning so that people can get it into their diaries.

Tickets are free of charge and available from http://treforbash.eventbrite.com/. This event is expected to be a sell out so get your name down early.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event – leave a comment (it will not be published) or email me at [email protected].

Categories
Business competitions

Lemon Drizzle Cake competition results – read all about it

Faye Hemingway is congratulated by Trefor Davies for winning the Timico Lemon Drizzle Cake Competition
Faye Hemingway is congratulated by Trefor Davies for winning the Timico Lemon Drizzle Cake Competition

As I write this post the rain is lashing against my office window trying to break the glass and play at the Ryder Cup Golf Tournament has been suspended due to the weather. Inside Timico Towers though the drizzle has been of a different sort.  This month’s eagerly anticipated cake competition was, yes you guessed it, Lemon Drizzle Cake.

It always worries me that in arranging these competitions I might find myself in the embarrassing position of not getting any entries. The team has not yet let me down and the standard of entries has been getting higher and higher with each new competition.

Continue reading “Lemon Drizzle Cake competition results – read all about it”
Categories
End User fun stuff

I like a good dip

hot chilli salsa dip competition
hot chilli salsa dip competition entries

Next in the food for thought category is a short post about chilli salsa dips.  A number of us have been growing chillies and tomatoes this summer so we thought we would have a best dip competition.

I didn’t win though my 5 chilli version was commended.  Dawn Spear won with an uber tangy fresh tomato salsa with coriander. Lurvley.

dippers dipping in to the hot chilli salsa dips
dippers dipping in to the hot chilli salsa dips
Categories
End User fun stuff

I like a good book

The high levels of intelligence and stamina required to survive the rigours of life in the engineering department of an Internet Service Provider attracts a certain breed of individual. They are all well rounded, interested in writing code, computer games, sky diving, the occasional glass of beer and like to look after their mental and bodily health.

The standard diet consists of the appropriate mix of fluids (Red Bull, Monster) and health foods (KFC, MCDonalds, Dominos, Taj Mahal takeaway etc) together with an extensive reading list required to help them keep abreast of current affairs, advancement in technology and general mental health.

The photos below show what the lads browse through during their quiet moments (Sunday mornings before, during and after church).

light reading for the Timico Network Operations Teammore light reading for the Timico Network Operations Team

Personally I’m reading Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. I recommend it. In fact I think I will buy some more chess books.