Paul Sylvester
Head of Information Technology at Ultra Energy- Claim this Profile
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Topline Score
Bio
Credentials
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VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization 2019
VMwareFeb, 2019- Nov, 2024 -
Meraki CMNA
Cisco MerakiNov, 2017- Nov, 2024 -
HP0-S41 Building HP Server Solutions
Hewlett-PackardJul, 2015- Nov, 2024 -
HP0-J60 Designing HP SMB Storage Solutions
Hewlett-PackardOct, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator on Exchange 2010
MicrosoftJan, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuration
MicrosoftMay, 2012- Nov, 2024 -
VCP-510
VMwareFeb, 2012- Nov, 2024 -
Citrix CCA 6
CitrixDec, 2011- Nov, 2024 -
VCP-310
VMwareJun, 2007- Nov, 2024 -
CSSA
Dell SonicWALLMar, 2006- Nov, 2024 -
VCP6 - DCV
VMwareFeb, 2017- Nov, 2024 -
Administering Windows Server 2012 (70-411)
MicrosoftFeb, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services (70-412)
MicrosoftFeb, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (70-410)
MicrosoftJan, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) 2012
MicrosoftFeb, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
VCP5-DCV
VMwareMar, 2015- Nov, 2024 -
Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 (70-247)
MicrosoftJul, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
MCSE: Private Cloud Solutions Expert
MicrosoftJul, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 MCP (70-246)
MicrosoftMay, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 MCP (70-342)
MicrosoftApr, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
MCSE: Messaging Solutions Expert
MicrosoftApr, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 MCP (70-341)
MicrosoftMar, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Pro: Designing and Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (70-663)
MicrosoftJan, 2013- Nov, 2024 -
Lync 2010 MCTS (70-664)
MicrosoftJul, 2012- Nov, 2024 -
Exchange 2010 MCTS (70-662)
MicrosoftMay, 2012- Nov, 2024 -
Exam 247: Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
Microsoft -
VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization
VMware
Experience
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Ultra Energy
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United Kingdom
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Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing
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1 - 100 Employee
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Head of Information Technology
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Dec 2022 - Present
Responsible for the strategic direction of the group's IT with an expanded role incorporating our UK and US locations. Ensuring we maintain a world-class IT support function with MSP-style SLAs and global governance to meet our contractual obligations.
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Information Technology Manager
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Oct 2020 - Dec 2022
In the short time that I have been at Ultra Energy, I have completely overhauled the failing IT infrastructure onsite taking an unreliable IT network to a state of the art resilient system. I have reshaped the IT team to be an efficiently performing department reducing the backlog of service desk tickets from over 900 tickets to 0 in 4 months.We now have a strong team structure to support all aspects of the business underpinned with a workable business SLA and a stable workable business continuity plan which is tested every quarter. As a result of all of the changes, we have achieved our cyber essentials plus certification in record time. Show less
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Tailor Made Technologies
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United Kingdom
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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1 - 100 Employee
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Head of IT Operations and Security
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Sep 2019 - Oct 2020
Responsible for the discovery, introduction, and development of IT solutions and products sold by the group. I also head up our SOC (Security Operation Centre) and MDR (Managed Detection and Response) team as well as our NOC team which is responsible for our cloud environment.
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Head Of Service Operations
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Jun 2017 - Sep 2019
Responsible for the management and strategy of the companies hosted data centre services, Managed services Division Service Desk and Field Engineers. I manage over 30 service desk analysts and engineers who support the environments of over 300 companies of various sizes, which include a number of Law firms and local government departments. I have introduced a new weekly training program to improve the skillset of the support team so that our analysts are trained engineers rather than learning on the job with a goal of improving performance and decreasing the time spent on first fix.I am responsible for our hosted environment for our cloud with the goal of offering new innovated services to expand our customer offering and services. To kick this process off, I have initiated an upgrade project to automate a number of processes in our cloud to increase the performance of our solutions and improve the customer experience and speed of the environment. This will allow us to support new software solutions to be launched by our main partners in due course. Show less
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365IT
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Poole & Riseley
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Head of Technical Services
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May 2016 - May 2017
With the acquisition of Deverill, I have been appointed the new Head of Technical Services for the expanded business. We now have 2 service desk covering support for Cisco voice and network solutions, plus our traditional Wintel, VMware, SAN’s, servers, and end-user support. Plus, now we have a number of highly qualified Cisco network and voice engineers and an additional 2 infrastructure engineers. This makes 365itms a formidable force in providing highly qualified engineering on top of our new managed service offering soon to be launched. Show less
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Deverill Ltd
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United Kingdom
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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1 - 100 Employee
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Technical Director
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Jan 2015 - May 2016
Responsible for the strategic technical direction of the business as well as customer relationship from a support perspective. The key goal of this role is to drive efficiency in all 4 departments while creating and delivering new services, engaging and building relationships with vendors and customers, and meeting profit targets for the engineering team. Key role highlights• Maintain and build relationships with our 200+ diverse customer base• Do all pre-sales presentations to stakeholders looking to take on Deverill supports services • Budget planning and management for service desk and engineering team• Provide board report on engineering forecast and service desk performance and SLA’s each month• Present business cases to internal stakeholders to allow me to improve services • Management of a team of 29 engineers and 2 service delivery managers• Ensure internal teams are being developed to support current and emerging technologies• Maintain and business relationships with customers• Chair the weekly CAB meeting and authorise all emergency CAB request • Support and present all high-end Pre-Sales opportunities to board level• Keeping abreast of emerging standards in the industry to give Deverill the competitive edge Show less
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Technical Manager
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Jun 2013 - Dec 2014
Responsible for managing the Helpdesk and consultancy teams and implementing processes to improve customer services for our current customers while implementing business processes to increase the efficiency of our service desk and consultancy team.Key Role Highlights• Reviewed and then reorganised the service desk to make the operation more efficient by reviewing and changing outdated processes introducing improved processes• Introduced ITIL to the department to make the service commercially attractive to external partners looking to take on Deverill services, and replaced the old outdated service desk tool with an ITIL-based solution.• Introduced monthly one 2 ones with team members to improve department performance and staff working relationships• Merged the service desk and consultancy team into a single department. to promote closer working relationships.• Introduced Service visits to customer sites for service reviews to build on relationships improve performance and capture any issues before they escalate into problems• Introduction of training plans and sessions for the service desk to improve performance, skills and reduce customer wait time• Introduction of tiering within the service desk to improve career progression for the team.• The introduction of a new service desk solution to improve service delivery and to accurately capture cost and performance for maintaining profitability. Show less
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Senior Technical Architect Infrastructure Consultant
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Sep 2012 - Jun 2013
In this role, my primary responsibility is Pre-sales Infrastructure design and implementation, consultancy and Project Management. I am responsible for the design and installation of Wintel, Exchange, VMware, HP storage solutions, EMC Storage, Citrix, and perimeter security solutions. I also do project management of solutions and teams of engineers. I do board meeting presentations and workshops for clients. I am currently in the role of Acting Head of IT for one of our clients while they look to recruit a new person for the role. Show less
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Codestone Group
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United Kingdom
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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100 - 200 Employee
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Senior Infrastructure Consultant
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Mar 2011 - Aug 2012
Responsible for the design and implement of complex infrastructure solutions for clients Specialising in Windows 2008, complex Exchange 2010 solutions, Citrix XenApp 6, VSphere 4/5 and cloud based infrastructure etc. Writing of Technical proposals (RFI) and project documents for potential new business clients Provide third line support for Codestone Helpdesk Function when necessary Presenting proposals to clients plus demonstrating solutions for pre-sales opportunities Project managing processes at customer sites and mentoring client staff to be able to manage new solutions using the following software suites • Vsphere 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 • EMC SAN solutions • Citrix XenApp 6 • Microsoft suite of solutions • Sonicwall UTM devices • Server vendors (various) Show less
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Career Change to Infrastructure Consultant
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Jan 2011 - Feb 2011
I decided to take a change of direction in my career and become a Consultant after being with the Merlin Group for some 12 years, so I took a couple of months out to do some courses and focus my career on being a infrastructure Consultant. I decided to take a change of direction in my career and become a Consultant after being with the Merlin Group for some 12 years, so I took a couple of months out to do some courses and focus my career on being a infrastructure Consultant.
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Merlin Entertainments
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United Kingdom
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Entertainment
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700 & Above Employee
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Head of Uk & Asia Infrastructure
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Dec 2007 - Dec 2010
After the group purchased the Tussaud group my remit change and I was now responsible for managing the newly expanded UK sites which included a number of theme parks and 2 sites in Asia, a new international WAN, a new UK Data Centre, and a new global servers infrastructure.Provided 3rd line support for US, Europe, and Asia team through a team of 6 techniciansMaintained Perimeter network firewall and anti-virus defences for UK & Asian sitesImplemented selected ITIL processes within the department to enhance serviceManaged beta testing of all new network and server technology for the GroupDesigned and set standards for groups Virtual technology Increased internet connection speed and access to UK data centre (the Hub DC), providing a more robust and expandable system with minimal cost to upgrade.Responsible for creating a strategy to integrate new acquisitions into Merlin's portfolioMade recommendations on industry standards to Head of IT & IT Steering Group Managed & designed WAN and LAN connectivity for UK, Central Europe, and North AmericaManaged and maintained UK phone strategy and contracts including line rentalDesigned & maintained global Active Directory Server & Exchange Servers (2003)Delivered global security & protection for 17,000 desktop users & remote usersDeveloped, implemented and managed written & server based group IT policyResponsibility for both the mobile and landline telecommunications for the UKDesigned Green Strategy through Virtual technology & replacement of old serversReduced downtime, rack space and power usage making savings on energy billsMigrated 4 international sites to core Merlin network, saving £250k quarterly service chargeImplemented a global Anti-Virus security policy using Sonicwall suite of software Designed & installed Europe-wide WAN using routed firewalls to connect 31 sites to HQImplemented & managed groups new MessageLabs hosted spam solution and Symantec endpoint protection. Show less
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Global Group infrastructure & Security Manager
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Jan 2005 - Nov 2007
With the expansion of the Merlin group and the purchase of the Legoland parks, I was promoted to look after the WAN and AD of the group, responsible for IT security and group policy setting. I was also responsible for the strategic development of the UK, Mainland Europe and the US WAN, LAN, Data Centre, site servers systems, the development of global policies and KPI's for the newly enlarged group.
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ICT Manager
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Jun 2002 - Dec 2004
Responsibility for the IT support and equipment management for 31 European Sealife Centre's and Dungeon sites which includes mobile and landline telecommunication systems.Delivered business security strategies as set by the Group Head of ITDesigned & maintained global Active Directory Server & Exchange Servers (2003)Managed a team of 3 Engineers including 2 Helpdesk analyst which I implemented to introduce SLA's for the group.
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Senior support analyst
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Aug 2000 - Jun 2002
I was promoted to Senior support Analyst responsible for implementing a new server estate in Poole and the European sites. I introduced Windows 2000 and Active Directory to the group and rolled out AD to all UK sites as a pilot sucessfully. I also introduced the first ADSL circuits to the Poole office and the London dungeons to replace the ISDN lines which was costing £4k a month, and made a substantial saving on the comms cost to the group, which gave the green light to introduce ADSL lines UK wide, as and when the service became available.By the middle of the 2002, the group had saved £60k in comms cost. Show less
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IT Desktop Support
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Apr 1999 - Jul 2000
In this role my main job was to support the desktop users in Poole and support the senior support analyst who managed the groups 4 servers. I made a number of suggestions to improve the desktop estate and reduce the downtime which was implemented with immediate benefits for the group. I was then put in charge of implementing the same process for the European site, again with great sucess.
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Amicus ITS
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United Kingdom
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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1 - 100 Employee
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Field Engineer for 2GL (now Amicus ITS)
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Jan 1998 - Mar 1999
After working for the post office for 5 years I subcontracted for 2GL (Now Amicus ITS) for 3 months before they took me on permanently in January 1998. I worked for the group for just over a year working on healthcare IT projects doing desktop migrations and support for a number of trust including Surrey Hampshire borders, West London Healthcare, St Mary's Hospital and Tonbridge Wells healthcare. I also worked for 5 months at Volvo's training and development centre in Daventry installing their Vardis vehicle diagnostic systems which used Windows NT at all their UK dealerships. Show less
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Education
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1986 - 1989
North London College
BTEC, Computer Sciences -
1981 - 1986
Holloway Grammer School for Boys
Computer Science
Community
