About Ken

Since 1982, Ken has been providing IT solutions on complex issues such as networks, systems and applications to local, national and international businesses.

Contact
Kenneth Lang
1659-3151 Lakeshore Rd
Kelowna BC V1W 3S9

Phone:
778.215.0119
Email:
kenneth.lang@genyc.com

Professional Experience

GENYC Systems Inc., Surrey BC
Managing Directory, IT Systems Consultant
Since 1988

Over the past couple of years I have been wrapping up all my support contracts. I have been transitioning back to programming using ‘C/C++’ on the Arm processor with Verifone Hand Sets. Programming CMS web sites primarily using PHP. Completed the SOA training.

Oasis Computing Inc., Richmond Hill ON
vClient Enterprise Manager
March 2012 - Present
Oasis Computing Inc. develops and delivers SAAS (Software As A Service) to the vertical markets of Associations. Many associations cannot afford data a center, data center staff and software developers. Oasis Computing delivers a turn-key web base solution catering exclusively to associations.

Working as a vCEM (virtual Client Enterprise Manager), the role worked as a liaison between the client and the development team. Working with their online trouble ticket system, my role is to prioritize the problems, identify the technical issues, and prepare quotes and technical specs for enhancements.

Assist client with some of the client responsibilities outlined in this service agreement and pro-actively address and assist with any gaps.

Validate and verify incoming (via conference calls when required) and outgoing tickets (ensuring proper documentation for the ticket knowledgebase)

Provide client support and continuity during staff vacations and illnesses, etc.

Additional monthly services:
  • Product Upgrades – keep clients abreast of relevant product and module improvements.
  • Identify online training opportunities to save clients time and money.
  • Proactive Capacity Planning Monthly database services including purging and performance options disk usage, etc.
  • Documenting monthly weekly and annual processes and updates (fee increases, batch postings, revised annual renewal letters, batch updates to the database – batch terminations, etc.)
  • Proactive approach to future requirements and planning.
British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Kamloops BC
Technical Architect
December 2010 - March 2012

Game Management System (GMS)
Britich Columbia Lottery Corporation selected the Bally Technologies Game Management Software (GMS) for the replacement of their existing Gaming Management System in all their Casinos. Working as a technical architect with the Senior Leaders, we designed the strategic and technical architecture vision and road map for the new GMS.
  • The design was to develop an end-to-end solution that will deliver a reliable, scalable and centralized GMS solution. Working closely with Senior Leaders on ensuring the technical infrastructure supports BCLC's strategic and technical infrastructure direction.
  • Define and drive best practices and standards for uptime, performance and DRP, continuously improve and provide long term platform/infrastructure/backend solutions.
  • Contributed to the development of business cases, estimates and technical architecture for the GMS. Worked closely with the technical leaders to assess the team's technical skills gaps. Research and introduce new technologies while leveraging legacy platforms. Produced and presented regular status reports for Senior Leaders on infrastructure related projects.
TELUS Mobility, Burnaby BC
IT Systems Consultant
March 2002 - March 2009

Real Time - Call Collection System Conversion
The Autotel Division of Telus Mobility needed to upgrade and modernize their Call Collection System.
  • Requirement was to replace the current PDP-11 Call Collection System. This system gathers data from their 29 cell sites through out the province of British Columbia.
  • This was all written in ‘C/C++’ and X.25.
Jeske Corporate Center
Langley BC
March 2008 – January 2010
The Jeske Corporate Center is a new professional strata building where they wanted to set up centralized VOIP and Internet. I arranged to have the building wired for CAT6 and centralized the dmarc in one location in the basement. We installed Asterisk for the VOIP to service the whole building. I learned more about phones on this project than I ever cared to learn. The internet we setup with both wire and wireless networks for backup.

British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Kamloops BC
IT Systems Consultant
September 2006 – February 2008
British Columbia Lottery Corporation has a very large IT infrastructure. The infrastructure covers all areas of the province to monitor administer Casinos, Bingo Halls, Lottery Tickets and all aspects of gambling in the province.
  • Reviewing the infrastructure with their staff and put together a plan for upgrading their servers through patch management to consolidating on a Virtual Environment.
  • Other - DRP for RDB
    • Upgrade plan for OpenVMS
    • Upgrade plan for Powerhouse
    • Configure Open Source Tool Set - Apache, MySQL, Java, PHP
TimberWest Forest Corp., Vancouver BC
IT Systems Consultant - OpenVMS Maintenance
May 2000 – December 2008
TimberWest Forest Corp. primary business is logging and forest products.
  • During these dates the role was to maintain their OpenVMS environment.
  • This included building a backup server for disaster recovery, maintaining their DCL, Backups and system hardware repairs.
  • Periodically there was Powerhouse programming which fixes.
Canfor Forest Products Ltd., MacKenzie BC
IT Systems Consultant - OpenVMS Support
May 2004 – November 2008
Canfor Forest Products Ltd. is a lumber mill in MacKenzie BC.
  • During this period the role was to support their OpenVMS system and their Payroll system written in Powerhouse.
  • Recently migrated their OpenVMS system to a Virtual appliance, thus reducing the need for HP parts.
Surrey School Board (SD36), Surrey BC
OpenVMS Consultant
July 2004 – September 2004
Worked with SD36 to set up their main OpenVMS Alpha servers to start centralizing their student record system.
  • The process to centralize required converting their environment to TCP/IP including all their printers.
  • Special forms for their printers were required to be written and setting up common shares for the windows to share data with the main Alpha servers.
Pacifica Papers Inc., Vancouver BC
Project Manager, Head Office Relocation
October 1998 – May 2000
With the trend of downsizing in the forest industry, MacMillan Bloedell Ltd. sold two of their paper mills to a group of investors, calling the newly formed company Pacifica Papers Inc.
  • Contracted as Transition Manager to coordinate the move of the corporate offices and separate the computer assets and network from MacMillan Bloedell Ltd. This new company consisted of a head office in Vancouver BC, sales office in Lynnwood WA., paper mill in Port Alberni BC, and a paper mill in Powell River BC.
  • The first phase involved moving the head office from the MacMillan Bloedell Ltd. Research building to their new offices in Vancouver, with a staff of 120 persons. The new location did not have any infrastructure to support the head office. This involved:
    • establishing a new computer room
    • integrating a new LAN
    • integrating a new PBX
    • integrating a WAN connection
    • designing new offices and furniture
    • setting up enough power
    • coordinating movers
    • coordinating down time for users
    • coordinating the final move
  • Once this move was complete, the second phase involved separating the WAN from MacMillan Bloedell Ltd. To make this processes complete, put together a plan to not only separate the network but also stream line the WAN, consolidate the data centers and consolidate and downsize the servers. This involved:
    • coordinating the IT staff from both companies
    • establishing a new WAN
    • establish network separation timing
    • moving computers into the new data centers
    • upgrading the LAN to 100mb switch network
    • consolidating the NT Servers
    • upgrading to NT Workstation on the desktop
    • upgrading to Microsoft Exchange and Office97
    • changing the TCP/IP addresses
    • installing Internet access
    • upgrading the phone switches in both paper mills
    • establishing Y2K compliance
    • setting up a help desk
    • moving HP3000 servers from MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. to Pacifica’s new data center
  • After the network was separated and Pacifica became it’s own environment, on going projects included:
    • re-negotiate software licenses and support contracts.
    • completing the Y2K upgrade
    • assist in hiring support staff for the company
H.Y. Louie, Burnaby BC
IT Systems Consultant - Infrastructure Support
April 1997 – August 2002
H.Y. Louie is the sole distributor and suppliers of groceries for all the IGA stores in British Columbia.
  • Working with their IT department, projects included refining the distribution system linking the NT Servers to the Dec Alpha.
  • Upgrading their LAN to support current work loads and increase intranet technologies and help keep the operating systems current.
Contac Travel Marketing, Delta BC
IT Systems Support - Windows NT Migration
October 1997 – May 1998
Contac Travel Marketing is an order fulfillment house supplying most of the travel agents in western Canada with current travel brochures.
  • This was a MicroVax shop which was designed and migrated to NT Server and NT Workstation environment.
  • Setting up a new Fax Server on Windows NT, helped them deliver 10,000 faxes a day and 36,000 faxes over the weekend.
BC Tel Mobility Cellular, Burnaby BC
IT Systems Consultant - Billing Systems
April 1991 – December 1996
BC Tel Mobility is currently experiencing 40% growth rate, allowing them to purchase the source code for their billing system.
  • Contracted to audit the source code to ensure the proper versions was purchased. After the purchase, contract extended into several other areas and projects.
    • Rewrite modules of the billing system
    • Tune the billing system batch programs
    • Set up a proper development and QA environment
    • Acting system manager, implemented clustering to their Vaxes
    • Upgrade to the current levels of operating system
    • Convert from VAX/VMS to Alpha VMS
    • Convert from CI to FDDI
BC Attorney General, Victoria BC
Management Consulting
January 1991 - April 1991

Integrated Case Processing System (ICPS)
The project was to design and build a prototype to integrate all branches of the justice system from the police, crown counsel, courts and corrections to share data. The project was called ICPS (Integrated Case Processing System). It was intended to electronically track police cases from arrest to court processing.
  • As a management consultant role in the project was as follows:
    • Design a replicated database
    • Design network
    • Hardware Software must be vendor independent
Mohawk Oil Co. Ltd., Burnaby BC
Management Consulting
October 1990 - January 1991

Mohawk 2000
The contract at Mohawk was a Management Consultant role to help the staff in the IS department. Mohawk began a project called Mohawk 2000, designed to upgrade their systems and network to include new technology such as POS Terminal, Credit Card Switch System.
  • As a management consultant role in the project was as follows:
    • Design and setup application and system security
    • Set application standards
    • Technical advisor
    • Plan, direct and supervise project manager
    • Train and assist programmers
    • Cluster VAX network
    • Tune and setup Alisa Share
    • Design network to reduce single point of failure
    • Performance tuning (network, hardware, software)
Elmendorf AFB., Anchorage Alaska
Software Director
October 1999 - October 1990

Alaskan Command and Control System Military Automated Network (AC2SMAN)
In September 1988, Elmendorf AFB started a project called AC2SMAN (Alaskan Command and Control System Military Automated Network).
  • This project was to automate the Alaskan Air Command for Command and Control. Contracted to advise and assist in security and standards for the application.
  • Role became Software Director for the project and duties included:
    • Database design, logical and physical
    • Refinement of requirements
    • Data modelling
    • Preparation of RFPs for software/hardware/networks
    • Evaluation of RFP responses
    • Design security (data, networks, application)
    • Set application standards
    • Design a distributed and replicated data base
    • Technical Advisor

After the project was complete, the network included 60+ VAX's and Mac II's, 400 PC's and some 600 screens networked and replicated across the State of Alaska.

Hahn AB., Hahn West Germany
AC2SMAN System Consultant
February 1990 - April 1990

Wing Command and Control System (WCCS)
With the growing interest in the U.S. Defense Dept. to incorporate Command and Control Systems, had to opportunity to install and demonstrate the AC2SMAN systems capabilities on Hahn Air Base, in West Germany.
  • The installation incorporated two out of three Squadrons as well as tailoring the software to function in a NATO environment.
  • On the logistics side, this install involved complete integration from networks to software, demonstrating application survivability.
Osan AB., Pyeongtaek, South Korea
AC2SMAN System Consultant
November 1989 - February 1990

Korean Command and Control System (KCCS)
With the growing interest in the U.S. Defense Dept. to incorporate Command and Control Systems, had to opportunity to install and demonstrate the AC2SMAN systems capabilities on Osan Air Base, in South Korea.
  • The installation incorporated two countries, US and Korea in joint base defense capabilities
  • On the logistics side, this install involved complete integration from networks to software, demonstrating application survivability.
Department of National Defence, Canada
BMIS System Consultant
April 1989 - September 1989

Battle Management Information System (BMIS)
With the growing interest in the Canadian Defense Dept. to automate command and control, installed the AC2SMAN system (see Elmendorf AFB below for more detail) into CFB North Bay and CFB Winnipeg.
  • This project involved:
    • Design the network
    • Establish network standards
    • Set up application and network security
    • Install the application
    • Train users
    • Network bases together
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Anchorage Alaska
Software Director
March 1989 - September 1989

Oil Spill Computer Automated Response (OSCAR)
As the AC2SMAN project was coming to a completion, the Exxon Valdez ran aground.
  • While the military was being deployed to assist in the clean-up of the spill, the involvement was to build Command and Control systems to track personnel and equipment.
  • The application we built was called OSCAR (Oil Spill Computer Automated Response). The system was a network between Elmendorf AFB. and Valdez, used to track oil, birds, weather, personnel, water vessels.
  • Built using PowerHouse on Digital VAX's and Apple Macintosh’s, the information collected was displayed both tabular and graphical.
  • Once again, as Software Director, this role continued as it was for the application on Elmendorf AFB.
Fletcher Challenge Ltd., Vancouver BC
IT System Consultant - OpenVMS
June 1988 - October 1988
June 1988 was the start of my career as an Independent Consultant. The forestry industry was rapidly changing in British Columbia where distributed processing was the direction for many firms, transitioning away from a centralized head office model. The opportunities for specialize skills was in demand, and the skills were leaning toward Independent Consultants.

The contract at Fletcher Challenge included areas such as security, system standards, system tuning.
  • This was a contract dedicated to help set the environment for development
  • Baseline application standards
  • Initial configuration for the VAX/VMS server
  • Installation of all layered products and system access

Employee Experience

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC
Senior Systems Analyst
May 1986 - June 1988
Simon Fraser University began a project to rewrite all their student administration systems. As a Senior Analyst the role in the project was as follows:
  • Requirements Analysis
  • Design and review design documents
  • Design and setup security (application, system, data)
  • Set application standards
  • Direct and supervise redevelopment in Powerhouse
  • Technical Advisor
  • Plan, direct and supervise project manager
  • Assist in hardware and software configuration
  • Interview and hire new employees
  • Train and assist programmers
  • The project was to rewrite all the administration systems for Simon Fraser University, converting from an IBM main frame to a Digital Vax cluster.
  • The applications ranged from student records to the university financial systems.
Cognos Incorporated, Vancouver BC
Product Consultant
November 1984 - June 1986
With the Company changing its business direction towards software sales and software support, took the opportunity to change from hardware and get involved in software.
  • As a Software Specialist, duties included:
    • Pre and Post PowerHouse Sales follow-up
    • Demonstrations and presentations
    • Responding to RFPs
    • Training PowerHouse
    • Other Areas Included:
    • Implementing operations procedures for clients
    • Facilities management
    • Software maintenance, development and support
    • Project management
    • Account management
    • Systems analysis: hardware, software
    • The most rewarding part of being a Software Specialist during this period, was actually being part of a team to open and establish this Vancouver office.
Cognos Incorporated, Ottawa ON
Computer Operator
June 1983 - November 1984
As a System Manager of a Data General, Hewlett Packard, and Digital Vax, Responsibilities ranged in many areas of the Departments.
  • After initiating the day to day procedures for the Computer Operations Department, responsibilities turned towards maintaining the hardware.
  • Responsibilities included:
    • Capacity planning
    • Hardware/software planning and configuration
    • Developed operations software
    • Implemented system security
    • Maintained system account structures
    • Installing new software updates and utility packages
    • Monitoring and tune hardware systems
    • Review operations software packages
    • During this period of time, Cognos experienced growth in many areas of the company. As a result of this, time turned towards assisting in the design and expansion of the computer room and upgrading or our computer hardware.