vbAccelerator Ltd

vbAccelerator Ltd is a small London based software consultancy. As well as this website (and despite our name!) vbAccelerator also provides software design and development services for J2EE, .NET, VB and XML projects.

Current Availability	From October 2004
Contact	Steve McMahon steve@vbaccelerator.com

Portfolio

I've been working professionally in IT for more than 15 years. Here is a sample of the work I've been involved in:

2004: Position Management Development and Design
Role:	Developer
Summary:	Design and implementation of core Position Management functionality within a high-volume generic trade clearing system, initially concentrating on cash bonds and repos. Functionality covered trades, risk management, settlement, realignments and fees, implemented on Weblogic using a Toplink O/R mapping onto an Oracle database.
Technologies	J2EE, WebLogic, Oracle, TopLink, JUnit, Mock Objects, DROOLS, UML

2003: XML Messaging Development
Role:	Developer
Summary:	Design and implementation of XML message formats with associated validating Java objects, XML Schemas and unit tests. Development work included the use of automated Schema Unit Testing (SUT) and template-based test code generation.
Technologies:	XML, XML Schema, Java, JUnit, SUT, UML, Jostraca

2002: vbAccelerator.com Content Management System
Role:	Full Lifecycle
Summary:	Analysis, design, build and maintenance of a content management system to replace existing ad-hoc publication methods for the vbAccelerator.com website. The system uses Word and XML for content creation, a C# backend for content management and publishes to an IIS/ASP-based site, and receives in excess of 2 million page views per month.
Technologies:	C#, .NET Framework, NUnit, (X)HTML, CSS, XML, XML Schema, RSS, RDF, ASP, IIS, Word

2002: Stock Charting WebService
Role:	Technical Architect/Team Lead
Summary:	Design and specification of a WebService to allow automatic inclusion of stock charts in response to updated SEC regulations. Development consisted of integration of a historic pricing feed into the system, tracking of historic analyst recommendations and creation of charts in multiple formats including GIF/PNG and EMF. The service was implemented in Java running under Tomcat and an Excel-based front end was provided.
Technologies:	Java, Tomcat, SOAP, XML, Excel, FTP, Sybase SQL Server, Sybase Replication

2002: Financial Database for Analyst Forcasts
Role:	Technical Architect/Team Lead
Summary:	Design, specification and development of a global database holding in excess of 20 million data items, with an on-demand calculation engine supporting Excel style formulae. The system consisted of a Java WebService running under Tomcat interacting with both an Excel front-end and the publishing services, and had to meet exacting performance targets. Winner of the 2002 Application Developer Trends Middleware/Application Integration Award.
Technologies:	Java, Tomcat, SOAP, XML, Excel, VB6, Sybase SQL Server, Sybase Replication

2001: XML Distribution System
Role:	Technical Architect/Team Lead
Summary:	Design and specification of a distribution system enabling content to be repurposed to many distribution channels. The system featured a modular workflow and included services to determine which channels to publish a piece content to, XML representation of content metadata, XSLT and metadata transformation technology to convert content for a particular channel and failsafe, queue-based Email, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS-based distribution.
Technologies:	Java, Tomcat, XML, XSLT, Sybase SQL Server, Sybase Replication

1998 - 2000: Content Management and Workflow System
Role:	Developer
Summary:	Development of a client-server based content management system allowing Analyst Research content to be published through a configurable approval workflow. In addition to publishing, the system also made content and financial information available, when appropriate, to the Sales team.
Technologies:	VB5, FTP, Microsoft Word, OLE, Sybase SQL Server, Sybase Replication

1996 - 1998: Management Information Delivery
Role:	Developer
Summary:	Development of various front-end applications to provide management information on outstanding invoices, time value of money and work-in-progress within a large consultancy. The applications were designed for infrequently on-line (road-warrior) using email for synchronisation.
Technologies:	VB5, VB4, SMTP, MS SQL Server, Replication