For all you first timers here's a quick explanation of,

why, who and what we are

Why :
This website was created for a group of computer operators who work for a large financial institution - one which was taken over by a much smaller Caledonian outfit. After hearing that their jobs were being transposed to sunny Scotland and they were being 'put out to pastures new' decided to create a website which gave them the chance to promote themselves and to provide a platform to stay in touch and exchange ideas.

Who :
At the time of writing the 'work' force consists of four shifts of 23 people working a shift pattern which covers every hour of the year. We are currently working in open plan offices situated in the East end of London close to the famous Brick Lane curry emporiums.

What :

What do we know and do : Ops Skills:
Virtually every Computer platform utilised by the bank is monitored and controlled from these offices. These include IBM OS390 mainframes, IBM AS400 midrange systems, COMPAQ (Tandem) systems, Unisys and a vast NT network. We are proud of the fact that we have amassed in excess of 1400 years of experience on these systems and consequently fulfil a role which far exceeds that of 'The Computer Operator' .

We have very extensive operational experience which supports services and platforms for a very large clearing bank We centrally monitor and control, systems, networks and applications for multiple data centres, branch networks and a multitude of customer and support centres.
The different skills required for the various platforms, applications, services and networks are provided by a number of teams. Due to the amount of experience of our people, an individual's skill will often transpose more than one team.The platforms we monitor and control are OS/390, AS400, Tandem, Windows NT, and Unisys.
We perform in depth recovery of tasks and applications, the majority of this is done to second level. We also act as a help desk for user inquiries relating to system problems.Other responsibilities we undertake include:
middot; Problem Management: We initiate Problem reports for Hardware and Software errors. We inform Hardware vendors of the fault and co-ordinate engineers until fixed. When a Software fault is progressed through a support area we will monitor the Problem record through to resolution. ; Change Management: We monitor and police the change system for any changes that relate to or have impact on System Operations. Before we implement changes we validate the instructions and progress queries with the raiser. We also give Operations input to projects and attend meetings as required.Our product knowledge is listed below in alphabetical order under the relevant platform. We also have general Microsoft Office skills.

OS/390:

Overview of responsibilities:
MVS Ops, Hardware monitoring. Storage. Netview automation. Message suppression. Hardware:
IBM 9672 parallel servers and 9674 coupling facilities.
HMC (Hardware Management Consoles)
CNTI (channel extending),
DASD using virtual disk arrays and RAID technology supplied by IBM, EMC and Hitachi.
StorageTek Automated Tape Libraries,
3174 terminal controllers
3745 / 3746 communication controllers
NSC DXE800
DataSwitch 2400
Software:
ACF2, CICS, Connect Direct, Data Sharing, DB2, FTP, HMF, HSC, Infoman, Infosys, ICKDSF, IMS, JCL, JES3, JES2, LHSM, LRMM, MVS, MAX/E, MQSeries, NETEX, Netview, OPCE, Omegamon. RACF, REXX, SMS, Sysplex Operations, TSO/ISPF, TCPIP, UNIX, VTAM/SNA/NCP,

AS400:

Overview of responsibilities:
Five AS400's are monitored Hardware:
Software:

Tandem:

Overview of responsibilities:
Hardware and application monitoring. Batch scheduling and system housekeeping.
Hardware:
Compaq (Tandem) Himalaya K series systems ranging from 4 Cpus up to 12 Cpus, running D48 Guardian Operating System.
Compaq (Tandem) Servernet S series systems ranging from 4 Cpus up to 10 Cpus, running G06 Guardian Operating System.
Various mirrored disks, cartridge and line controllers.
Software:
Application Software:
CHAPS Sterling (LCI) & Euro (LEI), Group Treasury (ATLAS), SWIFT (BESS), NETS (In house), DCM (In house), EFTPOS (ACI BASE24), GROUP SWITCH (ACI BASE24), STOREPOLL (In house), Actionline/NWOL (In house).
System Software:
AO, Auditview, Backup, Carbon copy, CMI, Cmoncom, Coup, Dcom, Dsap, Edit, Eventtimer, FTP, FUP, Guardian, IMS, Infosys, Measure, Mediacom, MQ, Multibatch, Ncpcom, NDM, Nof, Nskcom, ORM, Pathcom, Peek, Pnaci, PUP, QCOM, RCP, RDF, Restore, Rmup, Rof, Safecom, SCF, Spoolcom, Systar, TACL, Tapecom, Tedit, Tmds, TMF/TMMP, Transcom, Tsm, and Viewsys.

Unisys:

Overview of responsibilities: Hardware: Software:

Windows NT: