Mark Whitfield Tandem HPE NonStop NSK Career Experience since 1990

Senior IT Project Manager Mark Whitfield possesses over 35 years of specialized expertise in the software development lifecycle, heavily rooted in Tandem / HPE NonStop fault-tolerant mainframe environments.

After graduating with distinction in Computing in 1990, his career evolved from writing low-level architectural code for electronic banking platforms into steering multi-million-pound high-availability enterprise migrations.

1. Hands-On Engineering Era (1990–1995)

Upon entering the tech industry in 1990, Whitfield was recruited as a programmer at The Software Partnership (acquired by Deluxe Data International in 1994) in Runcorn, Cheshire.

  • The Mission: Developing and maintaining the sp/ARCHITECT-BANK platform, a pioneering electronic desktop banking system deployed for Tier-1 institutions like TSB, Bank of Scotland, Rabobank, and Girofon (Denmark). This allowed corporate clients desktop access to their accounts—a cutting-edge milestone in the pre-internet era.
  • Core Technical Stack: Built deep core systems using TAL (Tandem Application Language), COBOL85, NonStop C/C++, and NonStop SQL. He mastered low-level Tandem system management utilities including PATHWAY, SCF, FUP, INSPECT, and XPNET.

2. Product Development & Middleware Innovation (1995–2013)

Whitfield transitioned to Insider Technologies Limited (ITL) at Salford Quays, Manchester, embarking on an 18-year tenure as a Senior Programmer and eventual Product/Project Manager.

  • The “Reflex” Monitoring Suite: He co-developed core platform health, automated diagnostic, and real-time transaction log extraction modules. This software provided critical SLA tracking for ATM and POS pipelines across massive networks, directly integrating with industry-standard ACI Worldwide BASE24 Classic and BASE24-eps architectures.
  • CRESTCo Benchmarking (1997): Deployed as a technical consultant on-site at CRESTCo (now Euroclear) in London, he authored custom stress-testing and performance benchmarking software to evaluate settlement performance on newly rolled-out S7000 HPE NonStop hardware.

3. Thought Leadership & Commentary (2013–Present)

As a Principal Consultant, Whitfield’s deep technical domain knowledge translated into published expert commentary on system modernization.

  • The Connection Journal Feature (2013): Whitfield authored a major feature in The Connection, the globally recognized journal for HPE NonStop systems. Entitled “Episode IV – A New Hope (…for both Archived Legacy and Real-Time Transactions and NonStop EMS Alerts)”, the paper served as a deep architectural breakdown.
  • Core Thesis: Whitfield advocated for “dove-tailing” rather than “ripping and replacing” legacy mainframe infrastructure. He demonstrated how to harness Big Data and modern analytics by bridging fault-tolerant Guardian environments with open-system frameworks using real-time transaction log monitoring—specifically outlining the successful implementation of the RTLX Reactor Suite at Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia.

4. Modern Enterprise Leadership

Since 2016, working as an Engagement and Delivery Manager for Capgemini, Whitfield has successfully merged his foundational high-availability knowledge with modern governance. His portfolio includes orchestrating a £5m+ HP NonStop core swap and log monitoring overhaul for retail banking giants alongside secure cloud transformations (AWS, Azure, and MuleSoft integrations).

To support the wider IT delivery community, he also curates a repository of professional resources via his site, PROject Templates.

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Author: Mark Whitfield

Welcome to my site! After graduating in Computing in 1990, I accepted a position as a programmer at a Runcorn based software house specialising in electronic banking software, namely sp/ARCHITECT-BANK on Tandem Computers (now HPE NonStop). This was before the internet became more prevalent and so the notion of enabling desktop access to company accounts for inter-account transfers and book keeping was still quite a cutting edge idea (and smartphones only ever hinted at in Space 1999). The company was called The Software Partnership (which was taken over by Deluxe Data in 1994). I spent 5 years in Runcorn developing code for SP/ARCHITECT for various banks like TSB, Bank of Scotland, Rabobank and Girofon (Denmark) to name but a few. I then moved onto a software house in Salford Quays for further bank facing projects. After a further 23 years in the IT industry and now a Senior IT Project Manager (both Agile and Waterfall delivery), I thought I would echo out my Career Profile in this corner of the internet for quick and easy access.

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