World wide web day 2022

This World Wide Web day, we are taking time to reflect on the origin of search engines and how they have evolved in recent years to create the world of advanced technology we are proud to live in today. 

History of the World Wide Web (WWW)

Since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989 a lot has changed, not only in the world around us but also in how far the WWW has developed. Originally, the platform was developed to meet the demand for information-sharing between scientists in universities and professional institutes across the world. In 1993 CERN launched the WWW in the public domain, just 29 years ago, which is hard to believe if you look back at how it started and where it is now. 

In the very early days, search engines like Google which now actively crawl the internet for updated results didn’t exist. Instead, online directories were used, like that of ‘Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web‘ to create categorised lists of websites. In time, this directory actually went on to become what we know today as Yahoo! When Yahoo! was renamed in 1994 there were approximately 3,000 websites, to put this into context, there are now close to 2 billion! As the number of websites grew rapidly, Yahoo! unfortunately struggled to keep up to date and so when Google was launched in 1998, their advanced technology naturally took over.  

Surprisingly during the time of advanced search engines, activity still occurred on the WWW. In fact, the first-ever online purchase made history in early in 1994 as a large pepperoni, mushroom and extra cheese pizza from Pizza Hut was supposedly ordered! From here, the world of online shopping skyrocketed more websites began to launch, one of them being eBay, originally AuctionWeb, who sold the first-ever item – a broken laser pointer! Thankfully, purchases (and refunds) on the WWW are far more streamlined today…

The WWW Today

The reasons why people use the WWW and the trends that occur on it have rapidly changed throughout the years. ‘Memes’ are commonly viewed as a more recent trend however, the ‘first’ supposed meme is reported to have gone viral in 1996 via email chains.   

Platforms on the WWW have also advanced massively in recent decades, with social media being introduced in the early 2000s and introducing ground-breaking sites like MySpace.com (2003) and Facebook (2004) which are said to have dramatically altered society. Despite more and more people beginning to use the WWW, by 2008 only 13% of adults had three or more social networking sites. This is pretty unthinkable in today’s world.   

During the pandemic we relied on the WWW more than ever before when we couldn’t live our normal lives. We used it to work from home, shop online, for entertainment and to keep in contact with one another. People’s livelihoods are now based on the web and it has become an essential element of modern life.  

What Is Next?

The future of the WWW is unknown… but is limitless with new ideas and constantly evolving initiatives. With concepts such as the metaverse where businesses are buying plots of land within digital worlds and artists are exploring the use of NFTs, is a world of virtual reality our future? Along with the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency, the possibilities are endless and we are excited to embark on the journey of advancing technology. 

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Kurt Riela Tech

kurt SCHRAUWEN

Director

Kurt Schrauwen is a Director of the Riela Group of companies which includes Riela Yachts, Riela Cyber and Riela Tech. 

Kurt brings more than 20 years of leadership experience having been an early part of the global success of Microgaming in becoming a market leader. Kurt was responsible for the commercial, contractual, and technical sales for Microgaming and with this experience will complement the company’s growth strategy.

Kurt is passionate about business optimisation and prides himself in having an intrapreneurial outlook to maximise staff potential, reduce inefficiencies as well as identifying and maturing revenue growth opportunities.

PAUL COCKER

Service Delivery Coordinator

Paul Cocker joined the Riela Group in late 2021, after spending just under 20 years with his previous employer.

Paul is responsible for the Riela Tech service levels, working on both the dispatch function and SLA management. Paul carries out a variety of duties across the Network Operations Centre and works closely across the wider team to deliver professionally tailored solutions for our Riela Tech clients.

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Murat Guner

Infrastructure Engineer

Murat Guner joined the Riela Group in the Summer of 2021 as an Infrastructure Engineer.

Murat began his career in Turkey as a computer teacher for primary and secondary schools before migrating his skills into IT infrastructure. After honing his IT experiences throughout a colourful career path, Murat gained numerous qualifications which he is now excited to apply to the management of our Riela Tech infrastructure.

christian goelz

Director

Christian is involved across the Riela family of companies with particular attention to the technology businesses, Cyber and Tech.

Christian gained a postgraduate Master in Finance degree at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland and completed his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Before joining us, Christian worked for six years at Argosy Capital, an Isle of Man-based private equity and venture capital business focusing on early-stage growth businesses. At Argosy, he focused on managing investment companies, research and financial analysis and served as a director on several boards.

ROBERT TOBIN

Riela Group Managing Director

Robert Tobin is the Managing Director of the Riela Group of Companies and is responsible in overseeing our business operations, our people and driving excellence in all we do.

Rob brings over 25 years’ of successful leadership and entrepreneurial experience across a range of industries including Family Office, corporate services, construction engineering, Superyachts, cyber security and information technology development to our Group, and to our customers.

In the past 15 years Rob has gained a prominent reputation within the Superyacht industry for his passion, integrity, innovation and achievements to date.

“Being part of an awesome, capable and forward thinking team that have a shared passion for Superyachts, people and the environment is the highlight of my career and puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step everyday”.

Peter Astell Burt

Director

Peter is an experienced technology consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the IT and cyber security industry.  Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), IT Strategy, Start-ups, Regulations, and Online Gaming. Strong consulting professional with a DPhil focused in Natural Sciences from ChristChurch, Oxford.

Tim Bliss Riela Tech

Tim Bliss

Managing Director

Tim Bliss is the Managing Director of Riela Tech since the company foundation in 2015 and a Riela Cyber Director. Tim brings over 20 years’ of successful leadership experience across a range of industries including finance and banking, software development, and manufacturing, as well as cyber security and information technology. Prior to forming the company he led the technology for Manx Financial Group PLC, where he was instrumental in business systems transformation.

“It is our hugely capable team of experts that drives our business – it is fantastic and rewarding to be able to use technology, intelligence, and great customer service to help make our clients’ business and staff progressively more efficient resilient and secure”

Andrew Clucas

Network Engineer

Andy is a qualified Network Engineer with in-depth knowledge of architecting, implementing and supporting networking solutions in the SMB, Enterprise and Service Provider environments.

He has over 20 years of experience working across multiple vendor operating systems, including Cisco, Juniper, Linux and Microsoft, and has also been responsible for implementing a variety of large scale network services deployments, taking projects from design to rollout and support.

Andy also has experience of deploying and migrating a range of virtualisation technologies including VMWare, Hyper-V and KVM based systems.

Marc Dorey

Infrastructure & Managed Services Lead

Marc is our Group’s Infrastructure and Managed Services lead with over 18 years’ experience in delivering infrastructure projects across multiple industry verticals and international jurisdictions.  From projects in Aerospace and Engineering through to Banking and Insurance, from Europe, China, Africa and Australia.

This experience is matched with a varied list of certifications from leading industry vendors such as Hp, Cisco, Microsoft, Ruckus, CompTIA and more.  As a qualified technical trainer Marc is comfortably able to take complicated technical concepts and deliver them in simplistic terms to key decision makers and end users alike.

Most of Marc’s experience has been gained working for managed service providers, both large and niche and as such is able to take real world experience and blend it with industry standards to help align our service delivery with our clients values and processes.

Matthew Roberts

Group Head of Sales

As the Head of Group Sales at the Riela family of companies, Matthew leads the company’s sales strategy, execution, and growth.

Matthew has a successful record building trusted client relationship and delivering upon set expectations. An accomplished sales leader, he delivers a sales process that provides clients with the information and support they need to make the right decisions for their organisations and their constituents.

Matthew has significant experience within the maritime industry having previously worked across various sectors including insurance, security, satellite communications and managed IT. Matthew’s most recent experience encompasses almost 5 years spent with the leading satellite communications and managed IT provider in the maritime industry, focusing on their superyacht clientele.