Duke, Gary
A-List 2006
Job title: Director.
Company: Lan2Lan.
Year of birth: 1965.
Place of birth: Southampton.
Career outline: My first job was with the BBC in London, Broadcasting House, where I was an accounts assistant, followed by a move to another accounting based role with Sunoco Oil in Covent Garden. I took initial accounting exams and realised it wasn’t for me so I moved to Kalamazoo where I used my accounting knowledge and IT systems knowledge in pre- and post-sales technical roles. Then I moved on to work for SCC and ComputerLand/Genisys in business development and sales roles. It was at ComputerLand that I met with my fellow business partners and decided to form our own IT consultancy business, Lan2Lan, in 1994.
What motivates you every morning to get up and work in the channel? IT is an interesting place to be, just as everything gets a bit boring a new challenge or service opportunity arises and makes the whole marketplace come alive again.
What has been the most over-hyped technology in the past five years? Wow, I have too many to list, but my top three would be grid computing, on-demand computing and commercial applications for 3G.
What will be the most underrated technology in the next five years? Probably virtualisation. It works, saves a load of cash on hardware, but isn’t really sexy enough to rank highly.
Which technology would you most like to have invented? Probably the PC because it has had longevity and solves many problems, but in reality I would liked to have invented something that saves lives and can makes a real difference.
Do you have any regrets from your time in the industry? Only one: not starting my own business earlier. However, it was my chosen career path that allowed me to meet my fellow business partners and without these absolute stars who knows where I would have ended.
If you could swap places with anyone in the industry, who would it be? I wouldn’t want to swap places with anyone.
What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in your career? Nothing major springs to mind. The real secret is to be forward thinking and to invest in an up and coming, early adopter market to ensure you are ahead of the game.
What is the biggest success of your career? After 12 years of growing Lan2Lan, to still love going to the office and to know that I have the best people working with me.
What piece of technology could you not live without? Probably my BlackBerry 8700.
What would be your advice to anyone starting a career in IT? Have a clear idea of where you want to be, work hard, take advice, dress smartly, be humble, confident, play the game and smile.
What is your favourite computer game? They are all boring after a day, so probably Space Invaders or Asteroids.
What would you like for Christmas if you could have anything? Christmas dinner with my family.
What is your favourite karaoke song? I can’t sing.
What would be the title of your autobiography? Smiler.
Do you have any phobias? No.
How many beers before you fall over? 12.
Number of staff you manage? 50.
What is your golf handicap? 28.
What car do you drive? Many.
Number of air miles you have? Very few now because I used 12,000 a few months ago