Berlene Herren, an HP Response Center engineer, has earned the first ITRC Pro and ITRC Graduate awards in the IT Resource Center Forums. We base these awards on points forum participant earn when they provide solutions to users' questions. Users earn points when the author of a question rates responses. We tally every user's points and you can see the top earners on the site. We award IT Pro and ITRC Graduate designations when users earn 250 or 500 points, respectively, and Berlene accomplished both of those milestones in a little over one month.

Berlene has worked for Hewlett-Packard for the past two years, one of those as a contract employee. She started her IT career in 1992, when she became a Novell Administrator. In 1996, working with Lockheed Martin in Frankfurt, Germany, she was the Metropolitan Area Network Administrator. She was certified as a Microsoft Certified Professional and a Certified Netware Engineer. She later was the Microsoft Exchange postmaster and ran a DNS on two HP 9000 systems, through which she was introduced to OpenView.

Why is Berlene so active in the Forums? "I love to help people," Berlene explains. "I enjoy the communication and the sense of community. I feel that if you buy HP and you have some questions or problems then you deserve HP assistance. It's a company and a product that are easy to be committed to. I feel we express this through the Forums."

In her spare time, Berlene enjoys enjoy golfing, collecting sports cards and cares passionately about Doberman rescue while caring for three of her own! You can learn more about her expertise and see the points she has accumulated in her community profile.

Since the launch of the Forums in October 1999, HP technicians from around the world have participated in the discussions. Berlene, in fact, is one of many HP engineers who are committed to sharing advice and solving problems in this collaborative manner. Today, all eight discussion areas at the IT Resource Center have at least one HP Response Center engineer supporting them.

Albert Whale Reaches New Levels in the ITRC Forums

Albert E. Whale has also earned the ITRC Pro and ITRC Graduate awards in the IT Resource Center Forums. Albert has helped so many people in the forums with technical questions that his peers have given him over 700 points.

Albert works for ABS Computer Technology as a Senior Network and Systems Consultant. His expertise is Unix: DEC Ultrix (his first Unix OS), Sun OS or Sun Solaris, Sequent Dynix, SCO Unix, HP-UX (all versions since 8.0) or Linux. Albert currently supports regional ISPs, telecommunications companies, large-scale networks, and smaller businesses. He has worked in the development of customized application software and database management and administration. Currently, he supports the deployment of a nationwide network operations center using HP OpenView products, and customized tools he has created to support the multivendor environment. Albert has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry.

Outside of work, Albert enjoys swimming, skiing, and gardening. He also enjoys playing with his five sons of whom he is very proud. Albert is one of the original developers of the First International Co-Operative Effort, the Father's Rights Network, and is the founding father for the Pennsylvania Parenthood Initiative (or PAPI) e-mail list.

Albert enjoys resolving problems -- and he is really good at it. He finds the points which the submitters assign provide feedback on the usefulness of his answers and challenge him to achieve the ultimate score: 10 points. Albert says, "with the introduction of the Forums, it is significantly easier to share information with other professionals in the field. The ITRC is the next step from the previous communications available to professionals, namely via the Internet's Usenet groups and e-mail services."

Become an ITRC Pro and Win Prizes

You can access the forums from http://forums.itrc.hp.com/. Participate in community discussions today, and you'll gain new insights, new contacts for troubleshooting advice, and maybe even a gift certificate prize for helping others. The point system is quite simple. For example:

• ITRC Pros (250 points) earn one of the three prizes: $150 gift certificate to Sharper Image, Barnes & Nobel, or the HP Company Store.
• ITRC Graduates (500 points) will win one of the three items: a digital camera, $300 gift certificate to Sharper Image or Barnes & Noble.

These awards are based on earning points by providing successful solutions to users questions posted on this web-based bulletin board.