planb is an IT services and DRAAS provider to local Lancaster small businesses.planb (originally aktconsultancy services) has provided IT consultancy services to Lancaster and Morecambes small businesses for over a decade but in 2017 rebranded and expanded its product offering. Our aim is not to be the largest or most profitable IT services provider but to offer cost effective services to small businesses in the local district.Technologies and ServicesBackup and Disaster recovery solutions.Network maintenance, advice and deploymentHosted services such as IMAP, Exchange, Web hosting, AV and many moreProcurement servicesBespoke systems development or adviceConsultancy servicesVirtualisation technologies SIP/Voip communicationsNetwork Consultancy and ManagementWe pride ourselves on a personal service and work with small businesses to get the most from their IT and an affordable cost.

Responsible for formulation of technical solutions for Business and Commercial customers and the execution & implementation of these by our business team. Responsible for overseeing projects and management of the rest of the business to improve service offerings, bringing new technologies into the business and increasing profitability of the business.Also arranging training, support and implementation of bespoke software solutions and development to commercial customers to help increase business efficiency and streamline business operations. Attending meetings as a representative of some of our customers and advising on the best technical course of action for their business.Alongside the direction of the technical arm of the company my hands on experience includes• Building / Maintaining Microsoft Exchange servers• Anti-Virus• Office 365• San and Nas storage solutions from 1tb up to 27tb+ solutions and iSCSI• Product development and implementation• Desktop and Server administration• Installing Windows server O/S including foundation, R2, 2012• Setting up GPO / AD• Networking, VPN, VLANS and Routing• Remote administration using software like Centrastage, Gotoassist, RDS, VSphere, TS• Infrastructure design, Fibre and Gigabit Networking• Auditing and report creating• ESXI Virtualisation• Veeam backup solutions• Social media projects and advertising• Web Hosting• Domain registration and DNSDuring the last 2 years of the appointment of the role we have seen a 282% increase in the profitability of the company achieved by restructuring & internal optimisation.Software developmentDuring this time I worked alongside some large hauliers and joint projects with other organisations such as Arla, Poul Tarp, Muller Wiseman & Helers on software development projects and integrations. Mainly developed in VB and automation using MS technologies and architecture.

Working as part of the Business Team supporting businesses IT needs including some of the following technologies.Primary support covers SBS Servers, Active directory, backup solutions, communications (VOIP,BES) and some other technologies moving towards SHDS and leased lines. The job is giving me the opportunity to get out on site and work alongside the clients providing a good level of service and a very personal service.Another part of the job is dealing with retail and domestic roll-outs which is very rewarding as it provides plenty of variety. Also introducing virtualisation technologies namely ESXi and other VMWare products, also using Hyper-V. Latest projects consist of Linux based throttled load balancers and Linux core SAN architecture design. A small portion of my role includes development of projects in a mixture of .net4, vb.net vb6 and some WSH/Cscript. Other technologies include Exchange clustering for load balancing and HA solutions, SQL clustering again for HA and VM replication and automatic failover.

Administering terminal service model, VLE and network infrastructure for UK based businesses. Development, implementation of monitoring solutions for data centre infrastructure.Also planning for maintenance, growth and scalability of existing infrastructure.During my time at SystemHOST i supported technologies for a cloud computing model including customers software itself, this ranged from End User support to server and infrastructure maintenance. Also backup technologies such as LTO2/5 Symantec Backup Exec 10/11 & 12, and HP dataprotector

Responsible for planning, growth and development of the IT infrastructure at SHP Limited. This also included development and work processes that involve an IT nature.Other responsibilities of this role included the planning and deployment of server and automation architecture for the hosting and replication of recycling platforms for large industry leaders such as T-Mobile covering the UK, Europe and partners within the United Arab Emirates. This formed parts of my duties including the day to day management and maintenance of systems to perform day to day operations within the business.I played a key part in business continuity planning and risk analysis to help secure ISO 27001 accreditation, this also helped to enforce 9001 and 14001

Planning growth and maintenance of the network at SHP limited, also managing communications and and all aspects of the operational aspects of the technical arm of SHP.During this time my role included the planning and deployment of network architecture for the processing and secure data destruction of hardware obtained through channels such as Airmiles, Marks and Spencers and Dixons stores group for re-distribution back into the public domain.

Assisted in the formulation of the company and the technical growth and direction, the OMS is a digital marketing company specialising in PPC and Search Engine Optimisation. I left this to concentrate on my role at SHP limitedMy involvement covered the registration of the business with companies house, business planning and organising the financial foundation of the business including payment solutions, establishing accounting procedures and business practice.

Managing large project initially at Search logic and development of content management systems and server based applications for automation written in .net and vb6. Also web applications written in vb.net 1 & 2 and classic ASP applications. Also some PHP development and DBA tasks such as MySQL and SQL.The systems developed within this role allowed on-line ordering and logistics of catalogues and other direct publishing material for names such as Littlewoods, Bravissimo and Studio 24. Other areas covered were bespoke content management systems and SQL clustering technologies.

Network operations manager, my responsibilities was the planning, development and deployment of the hardware to host and maintain their flagship product ekmPowershop.During this time i had exposure working with large online payment merchants such as Payal, Google and Worldpay. Planning stages included within my role at ekm included the formulation planning and roll-out of data-centre operations including planning of power and ip transit.

Responsible for technical direction of the company, planning growth and scalability of the network architecture.Also development of automation for hosting platforms and associated services. During this time the main areas of technologies covered and offered as service were Windows 2003 hosting environment and cloud computing models, Sun architecture such as Cobalt XTR architecture and Solaris. Other parts of my job entailed business continuity planning.

Initially providing technical support for ASP based applications and database driven applications for its customer base, progressing to supporting SQL, SMTP, Communications and DNS services. Towards the end of my time at BS/Legend working as part of the development team developing database driven web applications whilst helping to support internal network issues.