Topped the share charts on Friday following a lucrative contract announcement and is rumoured to have several more contracts in the pipeline.

Website www.coms.com

Who is he?

Him?

Or him?


About Simon Munro

I am a technologist at a large IT consulting group where I have a generic title, ‘Senior Practice Consultant’, which is shared by many others and doesn’t match what I endeavour to do – so I have embarked on a subtle (and possibly fruitless) campaign to get my title changed to ‘Technology Shit Stirrer’ in an effort to, well, stir things up a bit. I have both a lot of experience and an interest in the latest shiny new technology and use this as a platform for the stirring, encouraging people to think differently, assert their views and learn something in the process (myself included). I have been fortunate to work with some really smart people that have helped me understand the fundamentals and I use my knowledge of how things currently, and used to, work to push against the drivers behind the latest technology. The reverse is just as important by trying to understand what the new stuff is trying to change and why. For example, I like to see how traditional SQL systems and DBA’s are pitched against the recently fashionable non SQL databases to better understand the benefits of the ‘new’ and what we need to consider from the status quo.

While it may be interesting some of the time, stirring shit as a full time day job is not really in demand and would probably be tiring, lonely and not very lucrative if I were to give it a try. So I spend my days and get paid building various large and small business oriented systems on top of the .NET stack in and around London in the UK. When I lead teams I work with developers, define architectures, deal with the customer, interface with project management and try to code as much as possible (at the very least to feel the pain of architectural decisions). Sometimes I help out existing teams with some specialized aspect or to help fill in a gap that is being missed. In either case I find that I get to work with some great developers that have been able to focus on specific aspects of software development and it gives me the opportunity to learn something from them.

Software development is ridiculously complex and broad, making it impossible for anyone to be considered an expert – the moment you have the time to be considered an expert on something then someone else is spending time elsewhere, on some other aspect, and learning for than you. At the same time developers tend to be elitist and competitive, often feeling that their lack of mastery on the latest thing is a threat to their careers and standing. Trying to get technical people to challenge and criticise each other and themselves, in an effort to learn and further their craft, is part of day to day shit stirring that needs to be done with care and consideration. Personally, I am comfortable that I have reached the point in my career to acknowledge that there are some things that I am good at and others where I am weak, but rather than feeling threatened, I seek out those people that I can learn from and endeavour to exchange knowledge.

While furthering the craft of software development may be valuable and personally fulfilling, ultimately I am paid for delivery of solutions that are in production and (usually) core to the business. So it is necessary to continually focus on delivery and anything new being learned needs to be done in the context of delivery and value (both current and future) for the customer. So in both the new technologies that I am learning as well as the day to day implementations I focus myself and the developers around me on delivery using various techniques, both tried and tested as well as new – the process of delivering software is as important as the technology and both affect each other, so new technologies require revised processes and existing processes have a possibly negative impact on our technology and implementation choices.

Currently I am getting more involved in the cloud and when it started I saw that I have something to contribute. I noticed that the cloud hype wars were (and still are) driven by vendors selling something, anything, with a newly attached cloud label and by promising how easy and fantastic their products are neglect some core issues. Some of the issues being neglected relate to application architectures and how we build applications (there are other issues, such as security, which are not solely in the application domain). The cloud requires that developers and application architects look at solving problems in an unfamiliar way that demands the learning of new skills and development of new approaches and frameworks – despite how easy it may initially seem. Most developers don’t have the base skills to engineer solutions that are massively distributed and scalable and are short of base techniques, such as message oriented communication, data inconsistencies and so on. I only have a smidgen of those skills but reckon I am able to spot what is needed and make an effort t try and figure it out.

This blog will reflect, in the coming months, that process of learning and communication that began on my corporate blog (which I will still post to). Some of the content will be loosely formed ideas, some current and journalistic in nature, but most will be free of editorial constraints and will be entirely my own, with all the disclaimers that apply.

I hope you find something interesting here.

Simon

Doodlebug, I believe that it is the latter http://simonmunro.com/about/

He is into Cloud technology big time and can clearly see the potential of COMS.

Perhaps he is angling for a place on the Board of Directors - just a thought!

perhaps he is a ramper?

LOL, that's an expensive purchase just to be a ramper!

doodle true but if his target is 5p then he stands to make more than a few bob!

If his target gets to 5p we all stand to make a few bob - excellent, bring it on !

doodle good luck, but don't hold your breath!

halifax, I must admit I don't usually dabble in what I regard as "minnows", but after doing some research I think this little chap could be the real deal. David Breith has said this share price is going to 10p "in the near future" and in my opinion if the CEO of any company comes out with a statement like that then he needs to deliver, otherwise his street cred is shot to pieces.

Doodle

DB is recruiting lots of new staff at the moment, perhaps Munro, with his "Cloud CV" could find himself working for Coms. I also feel that a place on the BoD is not out of the question.

Today's British Bulls Recommendation for coms at http://www.britishbulls.com/SignalPage.aspx?lang=en&Ticker=COMS.L :

Signal Update

Our system’s recommendation today is to BUY. The BULLISH THREE OUTSIDE UP pattern finally received a confirmation because the prices crossed the confirmation level which was at 2.1750, and our valid average buying price stands now at 2.1800. The previous SELL recommendation was issued on 10/05/2013, 10 days ago, when the stock price was 2.6470. Since then COMS.L has fallen by -17.64%.

Market Outlook

Let’s jump on our white horses and go for a bullish ride. The bullish pattern that was previously identified is finally confirmed and a BUY signal is generated. The market is telling you about a new profit. Do not miss this bullish opportunity.

Outsourcery floats tomorrow - Friday 24th. If this has a good first day it could also give a boost to the rest of the Cloud Sector.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/deals/outsourcery-led-dragons-den-star-4001215

What will be will be.

RNS out - Commerzbank buying.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/coms-plc--coms-/rns/holding-s--in-company/201305241525345734F/

Doodle

Indeed, a 5.78% Holding in Coms.

With Institutional Investors now seeing the potential of Coms, the SP is only going one way.

That's great, and this Munroe guy seems to know all about this field so looking good !

Commerzbank is a leading bank in Germany and Poland. It is also present worldwide in all major markets for its customers as a partner to the business world.

With the business areas Private Customers, Mittelstandsbank, Corporates & Markets and Central & Eastern Europe, it offers its private and corporate clients as well as institutional investors the banking and capital market services they need.

With some 1,200 branches Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total, Commerzbank boasts nearly 15 million private customers, as well as 1 million business and corporate clients. In 2012, it generated revenues of just under EUR 10 billion with approximately 56,000 employees on average.

It is good to know that they are interested in our little COMS, this is significant news indeed and has already got the SP moving north.

Thanks for that Pete, it's particularly interesting that a German investor has latched onto COMS. "Our little COMS" seems to be getting the message across to a wider audience.