The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20100917060443/http://alan.blog-city.com/about.htm

alanwilliamson

About Alan Williamson

Java Champion, Alan WilliamsonDon't you just hate talking about yourself? What do you say?! With that in mind, here is a page of major achievements and what have you so you can get a feel of the sort of person I am.

I am presently available to talk about any potential engagements. I am currently engaged with a number of startups providing technology and expertise, particularly in the web space and cloud areas. If you would like me to come and talk at your conference, or company, then please just get in touch.

Whatever your need is, get in contact and we can talk: [email protected]

Notable Achievements
I have built many projects/tools over the years, some of the larger milestones include:

  • Editor'in'Chief of "Cloud Computing Journal" printed magazine
  • Co-founded aw2.0 Ltd, a software company specialising in deploying software solutions within Cloud networks
  • Steering Committe Chairman for OpenBlueDragon
  • Created the free email event reminder service YourLi.st
  • Working with the CK12 Foundation
  • Sat on the JavaOne content review panel
  • Maintainer of the open source projects MailCatcher and BlackBadger
  • Nominated and accepted as a Java Champion in 2006
  • Worked with SpikeSource Inc. for nearly 3 years as Technical Evangelist, and architect in SpikeLabs
  • Wrote and maintained the news blog http://blog.spikesource.com/
  • Contributed to open-source projects; Thinlet and Apache mod_backhand
  • Assist VC's in preparing technical overview and due diligence
  • Mentoring small Java teams on handling and applying new technologies
  • Expert Group Member for JSR 223; focusing on scripting languages for Java
  • Editor'n'Chief of Java Developers Journal for 5 years
  • Original Creator/Chief Architect/Coder for BlueDragon; a J2EE CFML engine. This is has been a product that has been in development for over 10 years. Recently exclusively licensed to New Atlanta (the makers of ServletExec). BlueDragon (or TagServlet as it use to be called) has evolved over the years to become a serious contenter to CFMX supporting all the major features of CFML, including the ability to run natively on Microsoft's .NET platform. BlueDragon powers the 2nd largest website in the world; MySpace.com (as of June 2006)
  • Blog-City.com; Complete online blogging community built using our own BlueDragon engine. This site is pushing some 80 million hits per month (per Jan2007). This is a great example, of 'eating in your own kitchen'.
  • Part of the early design group for the Java Servlet API

Publications
It is true, I've written one or two Java books.  Here are just some of them...

 

Ant Developers Handbook Java Servlets: By Example

 

Short Bio
Alan Williamson was the UK's first Java Champion, a programme from Sun Microsystems to recognize the Top 100 people that have contributed the most to Java. With his deep roots in high performance server side processing, he is responsible for creating the BlueDragon Java CFML runtime engine that is powering MySpace.com. With many books, articles and speaking engagements under his belt, Alan likes to talk passionately about what can be done TODAY and not get caught up in the marketing hype of TOMORROW. Follow his blog output @ http://alan.blog-city.com/

Alternative Bio
Alan Williamson is as much a veteran of the Java world as one can be with a language that is still very much finding its feet in the world. Alan has more than 16 years experience in the world of software development, graduating with full honors in computer science from the University of Paisley. Alan worked in mainly research and development roles until starting up the UK ’s first pure Java consultancy company 9 years ago, specializing in Java on the server side (n-ary (consultancy) ltd). Alan also worked his way up to the dizzy heights of editor-in-chief of the world ’s largest Java magazine, Java Developer's Journal, before going on to found LinuxWorld magazine. He was recently to be found working with SpikeSource, a company specialising in productizing and certifying open source components.

"Alan Williamson has been the chief architect of a complete overhaul of SYS-CON Media's leading title, Java Developer's Journal, which under his editorship - and in the space of a remarkably short time - has been systematically transformed into the market leader. It is now not only the most-read Java publication anywhere on Earth but also the most highly regarded. Alan's technical flair and organisational abilities have combined to establish him as SYS-CON's most purposive and productive editor-in-chief ever." Editorial Director, SYS-CON Media Inc.

Speaking Gigs (past, present and future)

  • Institution of Engineering and Technology Conference, London (May 2009): Cloud Computing
  • Cloud Computing Expo, New York (March 2009): Cloud Boot Camp
  • Cloud Computing Expo, San Jose (November 2008): Running in both clouds
  • Amazon Start-up Tour, London (November 2008): Using Amazon Web Services for RSS
  • Powering Your Business with Cloud Computing, London (October 2008): Flying through the clouds
  • Cloud Camp, London (July 2008): Walking in the clouds
  • Scotch on the Rocks, Edinburgh (June 2008): Introducing Open BlueDragon
  • TheServerSide, Barcelona (June 2007): High Performance web site - Evolution throw the ages
  • Scotch on the Rocks, Edinburgh (May 2007): High Performance CFML with BlueDragon
  • Netherlands Java User Group (October 2006): Introduction to BlackBadger
  • EuroOSCON, Amsterdam (September 2006): Introduction to BlackBadger
  • EuroOSCON, Amsterdam (October 2005); 'Programmatic Testing'
  • TheServerSide Conference (October 2005); 'Java Testing; beyond unit testing'
  • Open Source Business Conference (August 2005); 8 Open Source Applications for IT
  • Holland Open Source Conference (May 2005); 'Open Source; Science or religion?'
  • JavaOne (June 2003): Leading a BOF session
  • WebServicesEast (Oct 2003): Panel + Ant Session + 'Squeezing Pure Java'
  • NoFluffSeries (Nov 2003): Panel + 'Squeezing Pure Java'

Reviews

Always better when someone else talks about you, so I have started pulling together some of the reviews of talks.

  • Feedback on java.sun.com interview on clouds and java, March 2009
  • Cloud Bootcamp, November 2008
  • ZDNet Review, July 2008

Leave Comment

please note, all comments will be moderated for spam and abuse before being publicly posted.


 

Recent Cloud posts

Recent JAVA posts

Latest CFML posts


 
Site Links
Recommended Sites/Blogs

Follow javachampion on Twitter