Meet the Oxford team
The guiding light of our business is technical excellence. Our staff combine a high level of professional qualifications with years of practical experience in everything from trouble-shooting software systems to in-house servers, hosted networks, and a range of custom IT support solutions both small and large.
Managing Director
Barry Giles
Barrie Giles has been involved with Firstline IT for the last sixteen years, having taken it on as a small IT support company.
He’s seen the business through a changing marketplace and rapid advances in technology but has grown the business severalfold during his tenure. In fact, he’s taken Firstline from obscurity to being recognised as a Managed Service Provider.
Amongst his many successes at Firstline IT, Barrie’s biggest achievement is Firstline’s excellent customer service record. His commitment to his clients has been met with loyalty, with some clients staying on the books since the early days of the company.
Technical Director
Nim Nagalingam
Nim graduated from the University of North London with a degree in Electronics and Communications. He worked for five years as an Operational Analyst for Interact Systems where he was involved with the corporate network of around 800 servers and 4000 PCs.
Following a period of time contracting for the NHS in Cambridgeshire, Nim joined Firstline IT in December 2005.
He is capable of tackling the complete range of IT network tasks and over the last two years has been studying hard to build up his MCSE qualifications.
Senior Network Engineer
Rafael Marti
Rafael Marti is originally from Ontinyent in the Spanish region of Valencia. He studied Telecommunications Engineering at the University of ALCOI. He came to England in 2009 to study English and to gain experience as an IT engineer.
Rafael came to Firstline IT having just completed his CISCO-network and CISCO-voice certifications. We were immediately impressed by his Linux skills and by his wish to improve his Microsoft skills.
He has his CCNA qualification and is working towards CCNP. Rafael is also working towards his MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT professional) qualification.
Senior Security Engineer
Chetan Patel
Chetan graduated from the University of Southampton in 2007 with a degree in Computer Systems and Networks. After a period of working at Oxfam both in the UK and across Africa, he joined the ranks of Firstline IT in October 2020.
At FirstLine, Chetan manages its Cyber Security solutions for all clients. This involves managing Sophos endpoint protection on all clients’ workstations and servers. Chetan is also working on renewing Firstline’s Cyber Essentials Certification.
Service Desk Manager
Claudia Dina
Claudiu came to the UK in 2014, having worked as an IT engineer for a small company in Bucharest, Romania for several years.
He joined Firstline IT in 2017 to take manage, motivate and develop the Service Desk Team to ensure customers get the best possible assistance in good time.
Most recently, Claudiu has worked with a business consultant and the Senior Engineering Team to make big improvements to the Service Desk. His focus is on ensuring high-quality service to our clients day-to-day, whilst identifying and implementing measures for continuous improvement.
Senior Engineer
Joe So
Joe So was born in Hong Kong, where he graduated with a degree in Computer Science from City University.
After working for ten years as a Senior Engineer for Mitsubishi and local NGOs in Hong Kong, Jo moved to the UK in 2021 and began working at Firstline IT.
Jo currently works both with the Service Desk and the Engineering Team to manage the process by which Level 1 tasks are escalated to Level 2 priority.
Engineers
IT Support Team
Working alongside Nim and Raf is the IT support team of engineers who between them have expertise in all aspects of IT, from servers to workstations, and a variety of other devices.
We have specialists in the major business operating systems, including Apple iOS, Microsoft and Linux. Our engineers also keep up to speed with the latest software packages that are suitable for small businesses; so whether your problem is in installation, migrating your data, day-to-day operations or a sudden breakdown, they will know what to do.
Some members of the team have degrees in IT-related subjects; others gained their qualifications after more vocational courses and apprenticeships. We support all our engineers in continuing to access training and development throughout their careers with us.
Microsoft Certified Partner
We are qualified as a Microsoft Certified Partner which is a guarantee of the quality of our work and the standard of training of our staff.
