Michael Comish,
CEO blinkBox Entertainment
"I worked with Irshad recently on the closure of the Kangaaroo business - hes a very approachable chap and carried out the tricky technical and business closure tasks in a professional manner."
Bob Sparks,
Broadcast Engineering Director, Arqiva
"Irshad is a great team player and thoughtful colleague. He is resilient, resourceful and entrepreneurial. While his background and experience is in IT and Operations, he has the scope to take on broader roles. People rightly like working with and trust Irshad."
Rod Henwood,
CEO Project Kangaroo
"Irshad consistently delivered well beyond expectations to ensure we continued to maintain a reliable and efficient technical infrastructure.
His business acumen coupled with his very strong work ethic meant that projects were delivered on time and within budget. Irshad successfully completed 3 full office relocations and put in place the necessary procedures and policies required to deliver a disaster recovery and business continuity process should a nightmare scenario ever materialise."
Adrian Letts,
COO blinkBox Entertainment
"It is rare in the IT world that you meet a consultant who is both a rocket scientist and a quietly charismatic, approachable client contact, who is a genius yet capable of talking the layman's language and who possesses a breadth and wealth of knowledge which is used solely to tailor solutions to the client's requirements and more importantly budget. The client really does come first as this is not a man who will sell you the full IT package when something a quarter the scale will suffice. I am delighted to have met him and enormously grateful for the cogent, cost effective advice he gave me regarding the set up of a small business network solution."
Edward Drax,
COO Wildfitness Ltd
"We required a company that would consult us with all aspects of our IT systems. Not only did they consult the European IT department but also they continue to aid us with IT Support. We can recommend Irshad to your business."
Douglas Davis, Shockwave
“We have received a responsive and professional service and Irshad
has demonstrated both breadth and depth of expertise.”
Mia Blomberg, Globalegacy
"Irshad has proven his multi faceted skills within our company.
He excelled in IT Support and was given the responsibilities of the
Advanced Technical Team as well as the Duty Managers post. During
his time at BTopenworld he has proven that he is not afraid to take
a calculated risk and equally, not afraid to check his facts before
committing himself. This is a quality that I was very keen to promote."
Letwin, BTopenworld
I consider my strengths to be my ability to adapt and to adjust to new environments where self-motivation is needed for problem solving, understanding new technology and new ways of thinking. I am a self-starter and have excellent communication and management skills, also a desire to keep expanding my knowledge with enthusiasm. I am highly driven, technically competent, and not afraid of hard work and pressure.
As a confident and capable individual with experience of working in varied and challenging environments, I am a quick thinker in problematic situations and remain objective and calm under pressure. I prefer the structure of forward planning and like to be stretched intellectually.
Project Kangaroo
Project Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed JV (Joint Venture) between BBC, ITV & Channel 4 to deliver a VOD (Video on Demand) service.
I was employed as Head of IT Operations with an annual budget in excess of £5m. My responsibilities included all aspects of the management of the technology platform and technical operations including:
Project Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed JV (Joint Venture) between BBC, ITV & Channel 4 to deliver a VOD (Video on Demand) service.
I was employed as Head of IT Operations with an annual budget in excess of £5m. My responsibilities included all aspects of the management of the technology platform and technical operations including:
- Overseeing the operations and usage of the Website, P2P and Streaming platforms against supplier contracts and SLAs, ensuring the platforms and contracts are operating in the most cost effective manner to support the delivery of Kangaroo’s business.
- Collaborate with the content teams and content partners with regard to technical aspects of the content ingest and content management processes across the platform.
- Managing any incidents and problems with live service delivery liaising with and between technology suppliers and content partners to oversee rectification of any problems with the operation of the live service.
- Making recommendations to the business for quality and efficiency service improvements to the operation of the platforms.
- Management of website deployments/upgrades with minimal downtime.
Project Kangaroo (SALE)
Following the Competition Commission's ruling, the Project Kangaroo technology platform was successfully sold to Arqiva.
This process involved:
Following the Competition Commission's ruling, the Project Kangaroo technology platform was successfully sold to Arqiva.
This process involved:
- Liaising with Arqiva's senior technical and business management teams during the due diligence process.
- Successfully negotiating transfer of software and service contracts to Arqiva (approximate worth in excess of £1m).
- Responsible for ensuring all technical operations continue to operate BAU.
- Provide technical recommendations to internal legal team regards to third party technical and service contracts.
blinkBox
Entertainment
As Head of IT Operations for blinkBox Entertainment, I was part of a successful panel which were audited by VC's for funding. I employed an affective IT Operations Team and relocated the business in three different offices with zero downtime; these offices included an old warehouse which was transformed to a funky new media office with state of the art technology including a Gigabit LAN and CAT6 connectivity. I put in place effective Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity policies and procedures and dealt with an annual budget of approx $1m.
As Head of IT Operations for blinkBox Entertainment, I was part of a successful panel which were audited by VC's for funding. I employed an affective IT Operations Team and relocated the business in three different offices with zero downtime; these offices included an old warehouse which was transformed to a funky new media office with state of the art technology including a Gigabit LAN and CAT6 connectivity. I put in place effective Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity policies and procedures and dealt with an annual budget of approx $1m.
Woolworths
Woolworths HQ (Marylebone, London), required consultation of an Apple Mac Studio, this included the implementation of Apple X Serve, Apple X RAID, CISCO routers and VPN and backup technologies.
Woolworths HQ (Marylebone, London), required consultation of an Apple Mac Studio, this included the implementation of Apple X Serve, Apple X RAID, CISCO routers and VPN and backup technologies.
Mothercare
The Mothercare HQ required the implementation of an efficient remote infrastructure and connectivity between offices; this was on behalf of Braitrim.
The Mothercare HQ required the implementation of an efficient remote infrastructure and connectivity between offices; this was on behalf of Braitrim.
Matalan
On behalf of Braitrim, I implemented remote infrastructures to cater for fast and reliable connectivity between offices.
On behalf of Braitrim, I implemented remote infrastructures to cater for fast and reliable connectivity between offices.
London
Metropolitan University
I provided senior level technical services to London Met University, one of my major projects was to transfer hundreds of current hosting clients to alternative ISP's with zero downtime.
I provided senior level technical services to London Met University, one of my major projects was to transfer hundreds of current hosting clients to alternative ISP's with zero downtime.
Shockwave.com
Post the acquisition of AtomFilms, Shockwave.com required consultation for a new e-mail system and network infrastructure.
Post the acquisition of AtomFilms, Shockwave.com required consultation for a new e-mail system and network infrastructure.
AtomFilms
At the age of 21 I was employed as Head of IT (Europe), this was a real test for 24/7/365 availability and 99.9*% uptime. AtomFilms ultimately progressed to be purchased by Viacom.
At the age of 21 I was employed as Head of IT (Europe), this was a real test for 24/7/365 availability and 99.9*% uptime. AtomFilms ultimately progressed to be purchased by Viacom.
BT:
Aged 19, to support myself through University I started working at a BT call centre. Within 2 years I was awarded BT Managers Employee of the Year (2000) and acted as Duty Manager. The call centre employed over 300 customer service advisers.
Aged 19, to support myself through University I started working at a BT call centre. Within 2 years I was awarded BT Managers Employee of the Year (2000) and acted as Duty Manager. The call centre employed over 300 customer service advisers.