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This Life - Dan Smith


Where do you live and why? I live on the north side of Derby, close to the beautiful Peak District and Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Despite its small size, Derby has a thriving music and arts scene.


A Q


Which data centre/IT companies have you worked at and how long for?


I have been with Retail Assist for over six years now, and previously worked for Liberata and also Akzo Nobel/Courtaulds for nearly twenty years.


A Q


What is your life philosophy? Appreciate things when they are going well, remember that things can get better when they are tough.


A Q


Who has had the most influence on your career to date?


My wife, Anne, who put up with me doing a distance learning MBA with Henley for four years whilst our children were very young.


A Q


Where in the world would you most like to visit, and why? The Vasari Corridor in Florence – the opportunity to see the art collection would be wonderful.


Q


Windows, Linux or UNIX? UNIX – if you want reliability and certainty why would you do anything else?


A Q


Virtualisation – are there any downsides?


Licensing – people forget this element and think only about hardware savings.


A Q


What data centre technology development has made the most difference to your job – and how? The general availability of cheaper bandwidth has made hosted solutions a reality.


A Q


What do you think are your greatest strengths in the workplace? Being lucky enough to work with a great and committed team who all do their


Q A jobs better than I ever could.


What are your weaknesses? Books and bikes – there are no such things as too many books or bikes – just a lack of storage space.


A Q


A Q


Favourite musical artist? Miles Davis for his music and Bobby


Womack for his lyrics.


Who do you admire in your professional life? Nassim Nicholas Taleb – his understanding of the world we live in is salutary.


A Q


Green IT – myth or reality? Reality, just look at what Brian


Meredith has achieved at Blue Chip building Europe’s most energy efficient data centre.


What one possession would you take to a desert island? (no phones or blackberrys!)


A camera – the opportunity to take my time over some photos would be a real pleasure.


A Q


Which one person would you most like to meet (alive or dead), and what would you ask them? Hieronymus Bosch – “Where did you get your inspiration for “The Garden of Earthly Delights”?”


A Q


What are your current projects? Currently we are working under nda with a major retailer on a project that shall transform their business.


A Q


Dan Smith is the Managed Services Director at Retail Assist Ltd


ISSUE 25


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