Birkenhead Sixth Form College worker helps solve international computer problem

Jan 6 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

A BIRKENHEAD computer expert has been helping get Google up to speed.

John Paul Szkudlapski, who works for Birkenhead Sixth Form College, has been honoured by Brown University in the USA for his problem-solving work, which has helped to keep computer systems running smoothly across the globe.

John Paul has worked to test new software and detect and resolve problems before they cause major problems to companies and individuals.

Most recently, the worldwide community Shibboleth, which is used by over 15m people in research federations and commercial organisations, encountered a problem with Google applications.

John Paul was part of the team which eventually diagnosed the problem as Google’s clocks being marginally slower than everyone else.

University campuses worldwide are now benefiting from work conducted in Wirral.

Steven Carmody from Brown University said: “Very few of these campuses have people of John Paul’s calibre, and they would not have been able to correctly diagnose the kinds of problems that John Paul seems to be able to handle in a routine fashion.

“Birkenhead Sixth Form College is at the forefront of Shibboleth technology thanks to his work.”

John Paul combines his research role with his job at the college helping students access computing technology.