I’m an IT Architect, working for IBM in the United Kingdom. I’ve spent most of my career working for them in a variety of roles ranging from product development & test, through consultancy & services, to technical pre-sales roles. I have a base at IBM’s Hursley Park development laboratory in Winchester, though I tend to be pretty mobile, and usually find myself commuting into London several days a week.
I’m fascinated by the intersection between business and technology, where business finds novel ways to use technology to improve their effectiveness, and novel technologies force businesses to re-evaluate the way they operate. I specialise in the commercialisation of emerging technologies, from the introduction of messaging based paradigms back in the early 90s, through e-business and the .com boom, to Pervasive Computing, HPC & Grid Computing, and most recently Cloud Computing, BigData and IBM’s Smarter Planet (the Internet of Things).
I have a steadily growing portfolio of patents and publications to my name, enjoy presenting on a variety of subjects at conferences, and am committed to the mentoring and professional development of more junior colleagues.
Outside of work I’m happily married with three daughters, enjoy tinkering with my home network of computers, and trying to keep my “kit” car on the road. I’m also a school governor, try to take a pragmatic interest in environmental issues, and I’m currently relearning how to sail.
Unfortunately I was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the beginning of 2009, and much of this blog relates to my battle with this disease that kills nearly 50% of patients. Although things have improved over the last couple of years, I’m conscious that despite being the 3rd most common cancer in the UK, finding first-hand information about bowel cancer isn’t always easy. I hope that by documenting my experiences here I can at least help some other people deal with this disease.
I’m hopefully now coming out the far side of my battle with the cancer. I’ve been through the diagnosis, had radiotherapy and extensive surgery (which left me with a temporary ileostomy and an enormous scar!), had six months of chemotherapy, had my ileostomy reversed, and developed a leak at the join in my colon which has formed three abscesses in my pelvis.
It’s now nearing two three years since my cancer was removed. I’ve been through two three annual check-ups, looking for signs of the cancer returning, and so far I am still cancer-free. So for me, my battle is now all about trying to resolve the abscesses in my pelvis.
I tend to only post about major milestones in my treatment and interesting technology these days; in general a few posts a month. If you’re interested in what I’m doing more frequently than that, and can cope with my somewhat pithy commentary on life, then feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I am @rmappleby.
