Mark Wallis
Mark Wallis co-founder of drinksin.com have done BEng Electronic & Computer Engineering from University of Brighton, presently working as a Senior Technical Lead at O2 UK.
| Headline: | Entrepreneur |
| Work status: | Employed Full-Time |
| Website: | http://www.drinksin.com |
| Industries: | Computing, Food and Drink, Information Technology, Internet, Mobile, Travel |
| Skills: | Architecture, Business, Computer Engineering, Design, Engineering, English, Human-Computer Interaction, Languages, Leadership, Management, Product design, Public Relations, Public speaking, Web design, Writing |
| Location: | London |
| Interested in: | Advising startups, Brainstorming, Career advice, Consulting opportunities, Creating a group, Employment opportunities, Finding business partners, Finding cofounders, Finding engineers, Finding experts, Finding mentors, Finding team mates, Getting press, Giving back, Growing my group, Helping friends, Helping members of my groups, Joining a startup, Learning about entrepreneurship, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Partnering with other groups, Professional opportunities, Promoting my startups, Raising money, Receiving feedback, Recruiting for my startup, Sharing my projects, Starting a company |
| Tags: | augmented reality, bars, iphone, location based services, pubs, special offers, virtual goods |
| Schools: | University of Brighton |
WORK EXPERIENCE
| Employer: | O2 UK |
| Position: | Senior Technical Lead |
| Time period: | January 2004 - Present |
| Description: | A Senior Technical Lead directly responsible for the support and performance of high class Multimedia Services for a major European Mobile Operator in the UK.
Currently focused on technically leading a team of 6 dedicated to country wide support of i-mode, Music Downloads, Video Streaming, MMS and WAP services over 2.5G, 3G networks. My role demands that I have an in depth knowledge of technical solutions spanning many support teams and VAS suppliers. My main role involves leading projects to improve performance as well as participating in design workshops to influence technical design, analysing and minimising risk and proposing solutions to technical design problems for large scale, high profile services, such as i-mode and Video Streaming. As first technical contact in Operations with external teams, I am responsible for ensuring that new services are supportable, defining process and procedures, team building, relationship management and handing over support to immediate technical team. |
| Employer: | CGE&Y (O2 Online) |
| Position: | Lead Technician \Service Authority\Senior Designer/Cross Platform Lead Technician /Service Authority /Senior Designer |
| Time period: | January 2002 - December 2004 |
| Description: | Lead Technician \Service Authority\Senior Designer – O2 Operations was outsourced in 2002 to Cap Gemini Ernst and Young. My role here covers a wide range, as CGE&Y were reliant on a small number (4) of key individuals from O2 to transfer knowledge and get new staff (100+) up to speed as quickly as possible. Direct report to Service Management/ Delivery Director.
Cross Platform Lead Technician – This role demands that I have an understanding of all the services end to end within O2UK products arena. Including O2 Messaging services (MMS,SMS Pull, SMS Voting..), the O2 Portal (www.o2.co.uk) and the O2 Shop (www.o2.co.uk\shop). With the complexity of the platform, quick thinking and team leadership is required to resolve any issues arising across the platform 24x7. Service Authority – This role includes verifying/authorising design changes being made to O2 services and requires a wide range of knowledge of the end-to-end service to prevent service outage. As part of this task I work with members from all teams, DBA, Network, Security, Application Support etc.. to make sure the change is fully understood and minimise any risk to the business. With the nature of the business with O2, this can mean up to 20 changes a night over many different platforms. This role is responsible for the final sign off of any changes made to the live platform. Senior Designer – In this role I work with the design team in O2 Online, bringing new services into Operations from a detailed technical view. Working to make sure that what is being delivered is of good quality and manageable once introduced to the run teams supporting the new service. Example: MMS and MMS Interconnectivity with other Operators. |
| Employer: | Genie Internet Ltd (O2 Online) |
| Position: | Technical Design Consultant |
| Time period: | January 2000 - December 2002 |
| Description: | A majority of my time within Genie has been spent as the contact for improving RAS, WAP and GPRS system reliability and performance for UK and Joint Ventures within Europe, working very closely with BTCellnet (UK), Telfort (Holland), Infinito (Italy), Viag (Germany) and other GSM carriers. This was seen as very important inside and outside of Genie as performance and reliability across the company is a big factor on how Genie has grown and reported on by the Press. The improvements included a complete redesign of the radius infrastructure and dialup solution, bringing unreliable WAP times down from above 30s to a stable 14s across Europe. I have also spent a lot of time working with the Genie Operations team, working with a number of suppliers and troubleshooting the live platform, which consists of a wide range of technologies and systems interoperability. |
| Employer: | Motorola ICSD, Internet and Connectivity Solutions Division |
| Position: | WAP/UM Operations Engineer |
| Time period: | January 1999 - December 2000 |
| Description: | I worked at Motorola as the main WAP/UM contact for Europe and headed a team of 4. I looked after a large number of Compaq servers accessed by customers all over Europe demanding high availability and getting involved with network and application troubleshooting. Here I won the award of ‘Outstanding Contribution’ for helping to bring into service the first Motorola Wap gateway solution in Europe where tight timescales and teamwork proved to be the key to a successful deployment. |
| Employer: | Racal Defence Electronics (RDE) Ltd |
| Position: | Graduate Server Support Engineer |
| Time period: | January 1998 - December 1999 |
| Description: | I was employed as one of a team of five, as a final (third) line support engineer. My position involves supporting and administering a company wide Windows NT domain of 1500 users as well as maintaining a number of company critical systems for the support and development of military radar equipment. |
EDUCATION
| University: | University of Brighton |
| Time period: | 1993 - 1998 |
| Degree: | Electronic & Computer , BEng |
Mark's Startups (1)
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Drinksin
Established in 2007, Drinksinâs web sites and applications help users stay connected to pubs and bars. Focused around technology in particular the latest in mobile location based services and personalized customization.
Mark is Following (25)
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Bars For Us
Take the guesswork out of finding your cityâs best bars. Bars For Us, at barsforus.com, has created an easy way for people to find bars using the criteria most important to them.
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Touchit!
Touchit! provides interactive communications solutions based on high technology sources to enrich the experience, entertainment and the information our users have access Touchit!Menu consists in an innovative touch screen menu for restaurants & pubs
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Poker Events
The Kings Poker League is a series of poker events held in UK pubs at a discounted price while maintaining high standards. We use email and Twitter among clients and players for for communication and you can follow us at www.twitter.com/kingspoker
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TrustedPlaces
TrustedPlaces is a social network focused on local reviews. People can share recommendations (or not) on their favourite restaurants, bars, clubs, pubs and much more in their area and find cool places to go using guides built by other people.
Mark's Contacts (3)
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Darren Pollard
Digital Media, Business Development, Mobile Content, Advertising, Distribution, Mobile Gambling, Monetization, Marketing, Business Strategy, Social Media, Online Marketing
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Jaime Keenan
BA Hons Advertising and Marketing Graduate, formerly of Marketpoint, privately held marketing and advertising agency and CIT a Fortune 500 company.