Biography
I started working at the Pirbright Institute in 1990 when it was then The Institute for Animal Health consisting of four diverse sites across the country; I was based at the Compton site and have been there since. I was originally employed as a database administrator before moving into a more operational role and later taking over the management of the department on the Compton Site. Before working at the Institute I worked for various companies in a management information services role having left the teaching profession. Following the announcement of the consolidation of the Compton and Pirbright sites I became the sole person running the computing facilities on the Compton site to assist with it closure.
Abstract
Constraints of provisioning networking and other computing facilities within challenging environments
The Pirbright Institute works on animal virus diseases. Some of these viruses are endemic to the UK, eg. Avian Influenza virus, and the research must be done in facilities where cross infection and infection from outside is prevented. Others are exotic to the UK, eg. Foot and Mouth Disease virus, and research then also requires that the agents must be prevented from exiting the facilities. Physical, chemical and behavioural barriers are in place to mitigate these threats and these create a difficult and, somewhat, interesting environment to work within when providing networking and other computing facilities within the organisation.
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