Swiss Bank Corporation

I moved to the Chicago area for a job at Swiss Bank Corporation in February 1994. I was there for about two and a half years.

	Since the Bank had a hiring freeze, I started as a consultant with IT Solutions, a now-defunct NEXTSTEP consulting company with which the Bank's Engineering department did a lot of business.
	When the Bank lifted the hiring freeze, I became an employee, working in the International Finance Division, which merged with S&G Warburg to create SBC Warburg.
	Effective January 1996, all of SBC Warburg's information technology was outsourced to Perot Systems Corporation. I became a PSC employee and continued working at the Bank for about eight more months.

While at the Bank, I worked in Network Engineering. It was our job to make sure the internal international network (voice and data) was designed, implemented, maintained, and managed correctly. While there I performed hardware and software evaluations, project management, network engineering, webmastering, systems administration, technical writing, technical training, and miscellaneous other tasks. Some of the writing and training included the following:

NCC Fortnightly Reports — From October 1994 through January 1995, provide the statistical summary of NCC operations every two weeks, highlighting important issues or recurring problems. The report was circulated throughout senior management, internationally.

NetCortex Operator's Guide — Detailed instructions on how to configure and use NetCortex, a network monitoring software package then in use in the NCC.

Network Control Center (NCC) Five-month Summary of Operations — When the NCC had been in Chicago for five months, we summarized the entire period in a single report. We provided bullet lists of urgent problems and graphs indicating the number of calls into the NCC, the number of problems resolved before a call was placed, what equipment was at fault or what human error precipitated problems, and so on. Like the NCC Fortnightly Reports, this went to senior management internationally.

Network Control Center (NCC) Operations Handbook — Detailed policies and procedures for the Chicago-based Network Control Center (NCC). This included general instructions for troubleshooting, problem solving, using the major utilities, and places to look for additional specific information.

Networking Services Glossary — The precursor to the online glossary on these pages, this glossary was originally part of the System Administration Tool Kit (SATK) User's Guide. It provided definitions for all the networking and telecommunications terminology in use by the Network Engineering and Systems Administration staff, so the two groups could understand each other better and bring new employees and contractors up to speed quickly.

Quintus Overview — A course for the NCC technicians on how to use Quintus, the database package used to track trouble-tickets. Included as part of this course was an explanation of why certain fields had to be filled out correctly, as the data in the database was used to automate the fortnightly reports.

SBC Warburg Networking Technologies White Paper — A white paper on the next several years' expansion plans for the internal virtual private network for the Bank, and what technologies would be used to get there.

System Administration Tool Kit (SATK) User's Guide — A 200-page book documenting the various tools, policies, and procedures involved in the development, engingeering, and production networks at the Bank, from the point of view of the Chicago operations team.

Tivoli Evalutation Report — A 100-page evaluation report on the Tivoli Management Environment and how it would work (or not) in the SBC environment. The report included detailed explanations of perceived problems (bugs) and missing or desired features (enhancement requests).

Tivoli Security Guide — A summary of the various Tivoli products' security features, co-opting text from the Tivoli documentation, to provide the Security group with detailed information on the products without providing a complete set of documentation or making them learn the details of all the products.

Note: After I left the Bank, additional mergers took place. The current name of the organization I worked for is, as of the most recent update to this page, UBS.

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Last update Apr05/22 by Josh Simon (<jss@clock.org>).

	NCC Fortnightly Reports — From October 1994 through January 1995, provide the statistical summary of NCC operations every two weeks, highlighting important issues or recurring problems. The report was circulated throughout senior management, internationally.
	NetCortex Operator's Guide — Detailed instructions on how to configure and use NetCortex, a network monitoring software package then in use in the NCC.
	Network Control Center (NCC) Five-month Summary of Operations — When the NCC had been in Chicago for five months, we summarized the entire period in a single report. We provided bullet lists of urgent problems and graphs indicating the number of calls into the NCC, the number of problems resolved before a call was placed, what equipment was at fault or what human error precipitated problems, and so on. Like the NCC Fortnightly Reports, this went to senior management internationally.
	Network Control Center (NCC) Operations Handbook — Detailed policies and procedures for the Chicago-based Network Control Center (NCC). This included general instructions for troubleshooting, problem solving, using the major utilities, and places to look for additional specific information.
	Networking Services Glossary — The precursor to the online glossary on these pages, this glossary was originally part of the System Administration Tool Kit (SATK) User's Guide. It provided definitions for all the networking and telecommunications terminology in use by the Network Engineering and Systems Administration staff, so the two groups could understand each other better and bring new employees and contractors up to speed quickly.
	Quintus Overview — A course for the NCC technicians on how to use Quintus, the database package used to track trouble-tickets. Included as part of this course was an explanation of why certain fields had to be filled out correctly, as the data in the database was used to automate the fortnightly reports.
	SBC Warburg Networking Technologies White Paper — A white paper on the next several years' expansion plans for the internal virtual private network for the Bank, and what technologies would be used to get there.
	System Administration Tool Kit (SATK) User's Guide — A 200-page book documenting the various tools, policies, and procedures involved in the development, engingeering, and production networks at the Bank, from the point of view of the Chicago operations team.
	Tivoli Evalutation Report — A 100-page evaluation report on the Tivoli Management Environment and how it would work (or not) in the SBC environment. The report included detailed explanations of perceived problems (bugs) and missing or desired features (enhancement requests).
	Tivoli Security Guide — A summary of the various Tivoli products' security features, co-opting text from the Tivoli documentation, to provide the Security group with detailed information on the products without providing a complete set of documentation or making them learn the details of all the products.