CIRRICULUM VITAE
PERSONAL DETAILS
Name
Ian Cowburn
Address
Flat 4
7 Sandileigh Avenue
Manchester M20 3LN
Tel. (Mobile)
07753690655
Tel. (Home)
0161 446 2715
Date of birth
3rd July 1969
E-Mail
ianc@noddybox.demon.co.uk
SKILLS
C, .NET, C#, C++, HTTP, HTML, TCP/IP, BSD Sockets, UNIX, Windows, SQL (Oracle), Ada,
OO, UNIX-shell scripting
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Ultra Electronics Air Systems
Jan 2006 ­ Present
Ultra Electronics Airport Systems
The Oaks
Crewe Road
Wythenshawe M23 9SS
Major Projects
Zurich Airport Baggage Reconciliation System ­ Software Engineer
My responsibilities here are to design and implement the new TCP/IP interface between the on-
site airport systems that register checked-in baggage and our software which provides the
functionality required to safely log the loading of this baggage into the aircraft, and reconcile
this information against the passenger lists. This software is running under IBM's AIX, written
using BSD Sockets and C++.
In addition I am responsible for designing and implementing PL/SQL packages for the
construction of manifest messages following aircraft departure which detail the loaded
passengers and baggage for these external systems.
Thales
Jan 1992 ­ Jan 2006 Thales (Services Division)
Ashurst Drive
Bird Hall Lane
Cheadle Heath
Cheshire SK3 0XB
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Major Projects
RTTI (Real Time Train Information) ­ Primary .NET Developer
For last three years of my employment with Thales I was part of a team developing the
Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) Live Departures website, which is
accessible via the URL http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/.
The system is a 3-tier system implemented as a number of different services, utilising .NET and
Windows API in C#, C++ (both managed and unmanaged) and ASP.NET.
Responsibilities for this project have included the design and implementation of various
services in C# that communicate with the central server using .NET remoting and allow the
information collated for the website to be presented to external clients using XML over TCP/IP.
This information is used so that they can provide up-to date train information for telephone,
WAP and SMS services.
Other key responsibilities are the diagnosis and fixing of faults reported by end users throughout
the system and the provision of enhancements.
This project has been a success with both the customer and the public, winning Innovation of
the Year at the National Rail Awards 2004.
Connex ­ Customer Information System ­ Primary Developer
For two years I worked as the senior GUI developer for this project, which is a Customer
Information System for Connex (now South Eastern Trains). It worked on a client-server model
and my responsibility was writing GUI components using Tcl/TK and the supporting C++ code
which interfaced with the server using CORBA.
COP3 ­ Primary Developer
For three years I worked on the Command and Control system for the Singapore Police and
Civil Defence (fire) Forces.
My major task was the design and implementation of numerous message handlers that
interfaced with other vendor's systems using TCP/IP on a HP-UX platform and written in C.
I also worked on various other server side sub-systems that included the database handling
using an in-house Oracle interface. I also had exposure to PRO*C writing custom tools for the
import of data from the older systems to ours.
During this period I demonstrated my flexibility by spending time in Singapore generally in 3 or
6 month periods acting as an integrator (interfacing with the French and Singaporean teams),
fault fixer and on-call support.
HPB/AGR ­ Software Engineer
Four years were spent on a plant control software for the Hinkley Point B reactor. This was
written in Ada, running under OSF1 on DEC Alphas.
Responsibilities included the design and implementation of an entire offline subsystem which
allowed display formats and plant inputs to be tested on a dummy live system controlled by the
offline software remotely over a TCP/IP interface. The software was also required to maintain a
multiple-user environment where users could not interfere with each other's work and the
generation of automatic testing scripts for certain components and display formats.
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My other main function was the integration of the software (which was authored on a
specialised Rational Ada machine) on the target platform.
Further Skills
X11, OpenGL, Z80 and 6502 assembly, 14-bit Microchip PIC programming, UNIX
administration, source control (SourceSafe, CVS and RCS).
EDUCATION
1987-1990
Polytechnic of Central London
(Now University of Westminster)
104 New Cavendish St
BSc Science (Computing) 2-2 Hon.
London W1
INTERESTS
Football (watching and playing whenever possible), music (playing guitar and using PC based
music generation software) and the physical sciences.
I also enjoy coding for fun and have written a number of open sourced software utilities and
games. Examples can be seen at http://www.noddybox.co.uk/ and
http://www.sf.net/projects/wadmangle
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