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Australia is a big country offering many options – we need to talk to others before deciding where to go; isn’t this true also of how we deal with the new, bigger NonStop product offerings? With as much time as we have spent these past few weeks in and around Sydney it seems we are still only scratching the surface when it comes to all that the city has to offer. Ask anyone what place or event is worth attending and the responses vary as widely as the landscape itself. Australia is truly “the big country” and if there are any Texans curious about the relative size of the states making up Australia, at 1,021,478 square miles Western Australia could be home to three and a half Texas size states. Even the state of Queensland could house two and a half Texas size states (and seven Great Britains, not to forget, five Japans). Making sure you see the best of Australia quickly becomes a head-scratching exercise for many visitors to its shores unfamiliar with the size of Australia.  ...

The ubiquitous ATM has been around a very long time but it is morphing to better serve the changing needs of its users. What’s not changing is the rise in transaction volumes from ATMs and equivalents and this is good news for NonStop! There is so much about Sydney’s shopping and banking scene that continues to raise an eyebrow or two, especially for those stalwart Aussies who just happen to have been out of the country for an extended period of time.  There has been so much published in the local press about the shameful pursuit of business by all the major banks, with a Royal Commission set up to examine business practices that today have found bank executives wanting when it comes to integrity and honesty. The axe has fallen on some of them even as others have taken extended leave over the holiday season. However, moving past the flamboyant headlines there is so much that is taking place with banking that it’s no exaggeration to say that more mature markets like the U.S....

Every time we approach the end of the year there are lots of opportunities to look back at all that took place and 2018 is proving to be a bumper year for those who follow NonStop! Having spent several weeks in Australia and now New Zealand as well, there is much to be said about the great “Aussie Lifestyle.” It’s a lot different from living in the U.S and it’s a lot different from living in Europe. And yet, there are elements of both continents visible everywhere you turn. There are still Starbucks coffee shops and there are more than a handful of places happily selling donuts. There are plenty of stores specializing in Mediterranean foods as well as some of the best Thai food places in the world just happen to be in Sydney. Walking into a Belgium pub in Wellington, New Zealand, that sold magnificent muscles in a lightly-curried sauce was something Margo and I will remember for quite some time. However, the events of the past couple of weeks are already beginning to fade from...

A short stroll past bank branch offices in New Zealand had me thinking about the role of services in support of NonStop systems and in NonStop migrations … This past week it’s been all about working from a unique location. Yes, for a couple of days we have been all at sea, so as to speak. With the need to be in Auckland for a couple of days followed by a day in Wellington, Margo worked out that we could sail to NZ, stop by both places and then return to Sydney. We also threw in a visit with former Connect board member, Alan Dick, who even today continues to work on issues of advocacy with long time NonStop supporters Bill Highleyman and Bill Honaker as well as with another strong advocate for NonStop, Randall Becker. We spent a leisurely day with Alan whose tenure with the board dates back to the time when ITUG elected to participate in the creation of the Connect worldwide community. Indeed, at the time Margo was Vice President Alan was there to offer wise council during the per...

On looking back to all that transpired at the NonStop Technical Boot Camp, there was much to excite the NonStop community … Seems more than appropriate to kick of this latest post with observations about shorelines that recede and lights that dim. We have just pulled out of Sydney’s Circular Quay as we start a very brief long-weekend voyage to Tasmania. I have written about Australia’s southernmost state on more than one occasion, but one sight has always intrigued me – Port Arthur. It was the extreme final destination for those Australia’s convicts who misbehaved in Sydney cove to such an extent that they had to be expelled from the more civilized penal colony along Sydney’s shores. As for the voyage itself it will follow almost the same course as the yacht fleet that will depart Sydney on Boxing Day (December 26) to race down Australia’s eastern coastline, across the Tasman Sea and up the Derwent River to Hobart. The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is one of the premier yachting e...

This is the time of year when the upcoming NonStop Technical Boot Camp (TBC) dominates many discussions – but what is coming next and are there further surprises install for the NonStop community? We are happily settling into our new and very temporary working life here in Australia. It’s been such a long time “between drinks” as they like to say down under, but there is no doubting the lifestyle that the average Sydneysider enjoys.  With beaches stretching north and south and a harbor that penetrates the distant western suburbs, not forgetting too that the Blue Mountains frame the far west of Sydney, it is a city unlike any other on earth. Comparisons have been made of San Francisco with Sydney but clearly they were made by folks who really hadn’t spent time in Sydney. San Francisco is more like other bay cities, including Melbourne, but Sydney is a deep water harbor framed by rocky sandstone outcrops creating changes in elevation everywhere you turn. Every time I retu...

If it’s Sydney, it’s meetings, ethics, and infrastructure and if we want to move the needle a bit further along, then I suspect even more meetings will be held … The weather has distinctly turned warmer in Sydney. The formal meetings of last week are now behind me and it’s been a week of heads down typing as I catch up with numerous commitments, but the many meetings with which I was involved took me back in time when almost every hour included one meeting or another. Perhaps it had to do with the positive nature of communication – when gathered together, ideas seemed to take on form more quickly and what started out as just a couple of threads developed into a full-blown tapestry in no time at all! On the other hand, perhaps it was just the enjoyment I derived from the free flow of ideas that would happen and how, from nothing at all the gem of a really good idea appeared. As I was walking the floor of the exhibition halls at SIBOS Sydney 2018 last week and yes, exhibitors ...

It may just be the lyrics from a popular song but so much about Australia that warrants further attention even if it is only a matter of sibling rivalry! I have just landed in Sydney, Australia. Looking out the airplane window in the hours before we landed and as first light began to illuminate the night sky, the window perfectly framed the Southern Cross stars along with the two pointers that combined have helped navigators through the ages determine where the south celestial pole lay. Taking up temporary residence to the north west of Sydney, the bush setting of these Sydney suburbs is just so different from anything you can experience in the US or Europe. It’s definitely a far cry from what I have become used to living in Colorado. However, sighting the Southern Cross is a reminder that Australia is part of the Southern Hemisphere. Even though Australia may be better known as the land down under, it surprises many of our friends in America that Australia is really much clos...

Sounds like a prison sentence? Not quite; Pyalla is celebrating the start of its tenth year, but talking of prisons, has security become the sole focus of IT these days? With last minute packing about to begin for our extended stay in Sydney and Auckland, I just noticed I was receiving more messages than usual on LinkedIn. When I checked the site, turns out folks are congratulating Margo and me for the nine years Pyalla Technologies, LLC has been in business. Just like that, nine years have passed by and we are into our tenth year. Who would have guessed? While down under, Margo and I will be taking a quick side trip down to Hobart, Tasmania, and not just for the food. It’s one of those places where the food is outstanding and few people know much about Tasmania, other than the Warner Brothers’ cartoon character, Taz – the Tasmanian Devil and yet, just outside Hobart lies Port Arthur. For anyone who has managed to read Marcus Clarke tome, For the term of his natural life ,...