I gained long-term experience working with IT infrastructures, various application requirements and the ongoing change that IT is faced with. On the one hand, I work as an architect and generalist with a comprehensive wealth of experience in regards to mid-tier customers and service provider needs. On the other side, I'm a solution specialist focussed on cloud app networking, mobility workforce evolution and committed to provide pragmatic but also effective security concepts even in the cloud era.
I do support management decision makers with their challenges such as establishing agile IT services or hybrid distributed systems and I also offer assistance mediating conflicts between technical and organizational interests.
My top priority is delivering quality-focussed solutions that are »feature-complete« and designed to run and provide their service offering over a long period of time without a need for ongoing operational or administrative assistance.
This overview illustrates my contribution to the (IT-)world. These are items that I'm evidently good in and that are important to me. Some of those obviously haven become outdated and don't play a role in my everyday life any more, but at that time earlier I've dedicated the same enthusiasm and love as I do for my current points of interest.
This specific portion of my site is updated from time to time. Especially in regards to navigation support this
keeps being a moving target. But I'm running very low on spare
Since 31 years I'm working as an IT-consultant specialized on enterprise architecture, still committed validating bits & bytes in daily reality, and awarded multiple times as CTP and I'm certified as MCE/CCE, too.
My strongest fortitudes are technology competence and quality assurance.
My job role with braincon corporation says Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Regional Director and Principal Architect.
Rhineland and Ruhr district is my home of choice for a long time now, but customer on-site engineering brings me widely around into different places.
Without industry-specific focus, I implemented large-scale deployments and completed early adopter setups for demanding customers. Together with my professional team, I provide solutions where others try out their first steps 3 years later...
I'm also an independent frequent speaker at public vendor- and community-driven events (Synergy, TEX, Citrix User Groups, and more), delivering technical breakout sessions legendary known for my level 400+ trademark.
Inside the footer below you find the most commonly used options to get in contact – there should be enough choice for any preference. I'm looking forward to your message and will respond in detail as soon as possible. In case of calling me by phone, you likely will be welcomed by my answering machine. Incoming calls without caller ID transmission will be ignored, same as with calls that don't leave me with a message on voice box.
Being an active technologist, I frequently dig into upcoming product lines and enjoy the surprise about it. Validation, review and comments on your products and technology stack provided to me is done without further obligations or liabilities, and it requires fully functional editions (or NFR) – any trial, ad-ware or time-bombed offering won't be spent time on.
You may send me signed and/or encrypted messages based on PGP-infrastructure. Find my respective public keys for download here:
All my created text materials and illustrations remain my own property. You may not reuse any part of this website without explicit grant – including partial copies. In case of licensed application I expect you to maintain a referring note. All hyperlinks have been reviewed with caution regarding plausibility and seriousness. In case of conflicting content I appreciate your cooperative hints and will update affected portions accordingly as soon as possible.
I am working in information technology industry and matured into the role of an enterprise architect (over the years my job title actually changed in a creative way, depending on the company I worked for). Such profession comes with very interesting unique challenges almost every day, but you have to accept working on-site in the field – and this needs some instrumented requirements such as work-life-balance for not being "burned" quickly.
My core disciplines focus around the software defined datacenter, a fully virtualized or cloud-operated environment across all technical stacks. I support customers satisfying their ongoing dynamic business needs by applying agile IT-concepts and I create competitive advantage through innovative technology usage.
Public cloud infrastructure and
Transport security & encryption
Infrastructure for web services and web applications
Business-2-business application interconnections
Hyperconverged virtualization
Virtual
Application gateways
Enterprise Mobility
Portals
Authentication solutions
Public key
Identity management (federation, Identity Provider)
Business continuity & Disaster recovery
My specialization targets an end-to-end IT process design where I deliver project services that require complex integration tasks. This includes return of investment analyses, design phase and sophisticated real-world installations. I'm also conducting in-depth troubleshooting regarding runtime issues. In addition, I take ownership on project management and staff leadership. On the executive level, I assist and give customers advice concerning future IT strategy and delivery options.
Consulting, assessment, design
Project delivery, outtasking
Project management, quality assurance, audit
3rd-level specialist
Service provider consulting
Public speaking (local and international)
Decision maker counseling
Workshops
Tailored training
Business development, portfolio steering
Qualification planning
Human resource management
It has always been very important to me to learn and reflect product reality and practical usage options back into my knowledge and validate my design standards by staying in touch with ongoing delivery engagements in the field.
My main interest is adding value on top of cloud app networking. This mission cares about aligning both the application- and network-centric demands that have become important in the age of ubiquitous mobility, in a combined solution. However, this is not about network transport such as routing or firewalling exclusively. It instead requires detailed consideration of application protocols or web services and their security posture, so that it becomes an interdisciplinary perspective. Because of that approach, this challenges both the IT generalist in regards to the overall IT architecture and involves the specialist that knows about application specific behavior in detail – in just one person...
One also could say I do understand a lot of what's going on with both servers, applications and networks.
ADC (a.k.a. NetScaler) platform / family
Enterprise mobility
Citrix Cloud / Workspace
DaaS EUC end-user computing (RDS/VDI)
Active Directory
Azure Active Directory
Certificate services
Federation services
Azure Cloud (IaaS, web services)
Azure authentication
HCI, Storage Spaces
Office 365
Endpoint Manager
Exchange Server
OpenSSL
SAML
OpenID Connect
Google authentication solutions
Information technology offers thousands of areas in specialization and probably the same number of options to certify the knowledge you gained over the years. Sometimes it might be helpful or even required to prove your skills formally. Attending more and more courses or spending time in studying technologies and products you'll accumulate those exam results. One time you also could become certified in emptying waist boxes...
My personal favorite is deploying applications based on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions. In my eyes, whenever you're faced with professional enterprise requirements (large scale sizing, massive consolidation, complex access needs, etc.) you likely choose Citrix's technology to achieve your goals. Interestingly Citrix has complemented its portfolio with a huge offering around networking, cloud, mobility and security products.
I promoted this technology stack becoming one of my primary areas of specialization and added exam by exam over the course of time.
since 12/2012
My core competencies are consulting services in regards to general solutions architecture and in-depth implementation support for networking-, mobility- and cloud-related products.
07/2001 to 11/2012
I've always taken care of the complete Citrix product stack, ranging from application and desktop virtualization to overall architecture consulting services.
since 02/2001
Citrix doesn't provide an appealing overall certification summary. Here's the alternate puzzle to outline my achievements:
Microsoft's server platform has been my primary focus since the early 90s. It happened by chance in those days I took over responsibility regarding NT4-deployments at all affected customers' networks. The major market leader in client/server-networks had been Novell and the "alternate" operating system divisions were under-staffed. Starting with NT4 I was part of any migration, evolution and technological update cycle, which allowed me to be involved in any new kind of enhancement and backoffice line product version that was released out to the public. Today it's Azure cloud obviously.
Inevitable a formal qualification became added over the course of time.
since 10/2012
My primary competence has grown over the years: my technology world deals with cloud and server infrastructure.
04/2003 to 09/2012
At a very early stage I already focussed my specialization on solution offerings, security and web services.
since 03/1998
I'm working with Microsoft products for such a long time, I literally could decorate the walls with exam and certificate printouts. By chance, all that has transitioned into a digital world without printed paper:
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Should certified knowledge be based on long-term practice and doings
Please wait...
...until this area has been facelifted.
Right after a few years in professional IT employment I already was engaged into community collaboration, to share my knowledge and to discuss technology that is and has been important to me. By 2006 Brian Madden, a highly respected blogger and IT enthusiast, asked me participating as a conference speaker. This has evolved and represents a significant part of my today's community understanding and interaction. You can catch me on both national and international events and user group meetings – both as an attendee but frequently also being the speaker, discussion leader, etc.
Public speaking actually has become a passion – over the years I've spent a lot of time doing that: 175 contributions in english and german language (see flag indicator, international: #79). The session material depicts huge parts of my daily customer work and often content has been exclusively developed and improved for those gatherings. I'm an independent industry expert and known for complex sessions (level 400+).
September 19, 2024
De Oude Duikenburg, Echteld, Netherlands
technical breakout session
May 3-5, 2024
Novotel, Madrid, Spain
technical breakout session
March 5, 2024
Dieburg
executive briefing session
October 11, 2023
De Oude Duikenburg, Echteld, Netherlands
technical breakout session
September 13-14, 2023
PERCUMA, Eppstein
executive briefing session
September 7, 2023
bcRM & bcRR locations
technical breakout session
June 15, 2023
bcRM & bcRR locations
technical breakout session
May 5-7, 2023
Novotel/Tiergarten, Berlin
technical breakout session
December 1, 2022
bcRM & bcRR locations
technical breakout session
September 28, 2022
De Oude Duikenburg, Echteld, Netherlands
technical breakout session
September 15, 2022
Cologne
technical breakout session
June 10-12, 2022
MOA/Tiergarten, Berlin
technical breakout session
April 30, 2020
COVID-19 Virtual Meeting
technical breakout session
November 14, 2019
Heidelberg
technical breakout session
September 26, 2019
Cologne
technical breakout session
September 26, 2019
technical online webinar
June 7-9, 2019
Novotel am Tiergarten, Berlin
technical breakout session
June 5, 2019
technical online webinar
May 21-23, 2019
Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta/GA, US
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
technical breakout session
April 17, 2019
technical online webinar
March 15, 2019
De Oude Duikenburg, Echteld, Netherlands
technical breakout session
January 17, 2019
Hamburg
technical breakout session
November 19-20, 2018
World Conference Center, Bonn
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
November 8, 2018
Darmstadt
technical breakout session
November 2-4, 2018
Novotel, Athens, Greece
technical breakout session
September 13, 2018
Cologne
technical breakout session
August 23, 2018
Darmstadt
technical breakout session
August 2, 2018
technical online webinar
August 2, 2018
technical workshop
June 9-10, 2018
Volkshotel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
technical breakout session
podium discussion
May 8-10, 2018
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim/CA, US
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
technical breakout session
January 26, 2018
Munich
solution selling
December 14, 2017
technical online webinar
November 17, 2017
technical online webinar
October 11, 2017
Hagen
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
September 28, 2017
technical workshop
September 26, 2017
technical workshop
August 17, 2017
technical online webinar
July 13, 2017
technical online webinar
June-October 2017
solution selling
solution selling
solution selling
solution selling
solution selling
May 29-30, 2017
World Conference Center, Bonn
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
May 23-25, 2017
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando/FL, US
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
meet the expert
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
November 10, 2016
technical workshop
November 9, 2016
technical online webinar
July 7, 2016
technical workshop
June 23, 2016
Cologne
technical breakout session
June 20-21, 2016
Estrel, Berlin
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
May 24-26, 2016
The Venetian, Las Vegas/NV, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
May 19-20, 2016
etc. venues St. Paul's, London, UK
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
October 12, 2015
technical online webinar
October 6, 2015
Estrel, Berlin
technical breakout session
September 3, 2015
Arcadeon, Hagen
solution selling
May 19-20, 2015
etc. venues St. Paul's, London, UK
technical breakout session
May 12-14, 2015
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando/FL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
January 13-14, 2015
The Venetian, Las Vegas/NV, US
solution selling
October 21-22, 2014
Dolce, Munich
podium discussion
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
July 21-23, 2014
Seaport World Trade Center, Boston/MA, US
technical breakout session
June 25, 2014
Maritim at the airport, Duesseldorf
solution selling
May 20-21, 2014
etc. venues St. Paul's, London, UK
technical breakout session
May 14, 2014
Duesseldorf
executive briefing session
May 6-8, 2014
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim/CA, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
March 17, 2014
Dorint Congress & Hotel, Mannheim
executive briefing session
March 17, 2014
angelo park west, Munich
executive briefing session
March 3, 2014
Chamber of industry and commerce, Hannover
executive briefing session
October 21-22, 2013
Dolce, Munich
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
September 19, 2013
Frankfurt/Main
executive briefing session
June 19, 2013
Arcadeon, Hagen
solution selling
May 22-24, 2013
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim/CA, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
May 20-21, 2013
Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim/CA, US
solution selling
May 16-17, 2013
etc. venues St. Paul's, London, UK
technical breakout session
October 17-18, 2012
CCIB International Convention Center, Barcelona, Spain
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
October 15-16, 2012
CCIB International Convention Center, Barcelona, Spain
solution selling
September 25, 2012
Florian tower, Dortmund
executive briefing session
July 24-26, 2012
Hyatt Regency McCormick, Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
June 20-21, 2012
Dolce, Munich
podium discussion
technical breakout session
podium discussion
podium discussion
podium discussion
October 13, 2011
Gasteig Library, Munich
podium discussion
September 8, 2011
Harenberg Center, Dortmund
podium discussion
August 20, 2011
it.emsland, Lingen
technical breakout session
July 19-21, 2011
Hyatt Regency McCormick, Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
June 6-7, 2011
Sheraton Arabella, Munich
technical breakout session
podium discussion
podium discussion
May 25-27, 2011
Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco/CA, US
podium discussion
technical breakout session
May 10-11, 2011
Chelsea Football Club, London, UK
technical breakout session
April 4, 2011
Swissôtel, Neuss
executive briefing session
October 28, 2010
technical online webinar
October 6-7, 2010
Estrel, Berlin
podium discussion
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
October 4-5, 2010
Estrel, Berlin
solution selling
September 29, 2010
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
July 20, 2010
Bucerius Law School, Hamburg
podium discussion
June 15-17, 2010
Hilton, Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
June 4-6, 2010
Intercity Hotel, Frankfurt/Main
technical breakout session
May 17, 2010
Ludwig-Erhard-Haus, Berlin
podium discussion
May 12-14, 2010
Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco/CA, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
May 5, 2010
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
November 25, 2009
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
July 21-23, 2009
Hilton, Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
April 1, 2009
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
February 17, 2009
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
December 2, 2008
Halbergmoos
technical breakout session
November 27, 2008
Dietzenbach
solution selling
solution selling
November 26, 2008
Arcadeon, Hagen
solution selling
solution selling
October 17, 2008
technical workshop
September 18, 2008
Hannover
solution selling
September 10, 2008
Arcadeon, Hagen
solution selling
August 30, 2008
it.emsland, Lingen
technical breakout session
August 4, 2008
technical workshop
July 9, 2008
technical workshop
July 2, 2008
technical workshop
June 16-18, 2008
Navy Pier Lakeview Terrace, Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
podium discussion
April 30, 2008
Arcadeon, Hagen
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
February 19-21, 2008
Frankfurt Trade Fair, Frankfurt/Main
technical breakout session
October 8-10, 2007
Nemo Science Center, Amsterdam, NL
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
April 23-25, 2007
Gleacher Center (Chicago University), Chicago/IL, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
October 4-6, 2006
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, Darmstadt
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
April 10-12, 2006
National Press Club, Washington DC, US
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
technical breakout session
The above overview has been shortened to fit your screen. A larger display pane is needed to cover more details.
Just in case there is a call-for-papers or event where I can provide some value, but haven't submitted anything yet,
please let me
Technical certification follows a formal process and in the end, it can be enforced by brute-force methodologies – that's one of the realities in IT industry, regardless of your own opinion how to deal with ongoing certification requirements. It behaves different when dealing with people-centric awards that target special services and achievements outside of business boundaries – they honor engagement. The situation can be best-described kind of an IT "volunteer work".
My different obligations and roles outside the regular agenda:
Collaborating with Citrix as a vendor and participating in the surrounding community has become the most intense "secondary employment" I've been committed to ever in my life before.
since 10/2009
Because I'm still deeply involved in customer project business, I own a comprehensive amount of practical experiences that I'm happy to share with others. Due to my long-years integration into the community, I frequently get invited for speaking at events and webinars about my technical solutions.
The CTP program as a whole is strictly limited to a maximum of 50 awardees.
since 10/2011
I'm known to be a stickler for details in my core competencies on products and architecture.
Typically the SME attribute is tagged to Citrix employees only, and given to external candidates rarely.
since 09/2007
I'm delighted working with product management and product development in depth for advancing products and solutions in direct relationship to my customer business. Actually, I allocate a lot of time into detailed elaboration and verifying new functionalities.
Essentially it has been because of Microsoft that I've explored into the opportunities of collaborating outside of a given business standard. They were committed in an early stage offering public available community resources such as discussion forms.
2002 to 2007
My first community chapter is characterized by sophisticatedly moderating the Microsoft newsgroups, combined with a yearly product management meetup.
My personal situation and business needs in that timeframe later didn't allow me reasonably satisfying my role so that I exited the program.
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I'm not a self-employed freelance engineer, instead I've always joined and worked with several companies over the last years and spent a longer timeframe with each of those (with an increase of management responsibilities that I took over) and still like the concept of creating results as team success.
"Job-Hopping" is an attitude I dislike a lot – but over the long course of time, I obviously had to deal with significant changes to my role in general, as well as facing new challenges. From time to time, this actually required me rethinking my employment and heading towards another career opportunity.
The result reads like this:
The challenges around delivering "solutions architecture based on complex IT business demands" have significantly evolved, time really has changed fundamentally. So I joined braincon corporation (based out of Roßdorf), a specialist-focussed IT consultancy firm that has given technology competence the center stage.
I add value to the business targeting Citrix end user computing, Microsoft architecture and managed services with my given experience around cloud app networking, mobility and security. My team increases the regional reach by operating a local branch office located in Wuppertal.
I continuously professionalize my work-life balance approach, also based on part-time
since 2018
I'm an experienced business development strategist – within a services-oriented company committed on providing premium consulting practice, my technical director's role requests me designing the solution and product portfolio, reasonably selecting valuable technology and methodologies and to drive agreements, education and company-wide quality assurance.
since 2018, additional
The braincon's branch expansion to Wupperal (district "Rhein-Ruhr") happened because of my onboarding – this area represents my home base and successful IT life. For the regional team, the newly founded subsidiary is my delegated leadership with all its belongings.
since 2018, additional
My core competency concentrates on systems engineering around complex IT infrastructures and highly demanding requirements. This actually is the common thread in my IT career – and I still emphasize validating my architecture skills and technology knowledge in real world project delivery frequently. I also take care of overall solution development.
Seeking a better work-life-balance my family, and me, I moved to
At first, I continued with my existing desktop and application delivery competence and experience. Then I invented and professionalized a new complementary business model around infrastructure delivery for application-centric mobility, networking and security solutions as part of an industrialized software defined datacenter.
07/2011 to end of 2017, additional
I established my own business unit application networking, which targeted those interdisciplinary topics that have become fundamentally important to the agile IT world: mobility, B2B, web services, micro services, hybrid cloud networking and security solutions around authentication needs. I was responsible for defining the right current and future technology stack, project planning, project execution and quality assurance. I commanded my team members and took care of their specialization and educational demands.
09/2007 to end of 2017
My business unit systems engineering delivered a well-combined mix of various vendor technologies with a strong focus on Microsoft Windows Server System and Citrix Application Delivery Infrastructure. That included product analytics and individual pilot-engagements up to strategic large-scale solutions to deliver applications in an efficient manner, covering industries like manufacturing, finance, insurance and government. I also was responsible for hosting architecture consulting at technical and management level, business development and presales.
Because of the acquisition into an outsourcing-minded blue-chip company, the ongoing business changed in a negative way so that the Düsseldorf-centered projects services specialists crew independently founded a spin-off named KMPA. The original goal to provide consulting services was re-emphasized and continued with regional customers ranging from medium business to large account enterprises.
I advanced my qualification in regards to project management and business development, and added this competency into my primary work area around Microsoft and Citrix products.
04/2003 to 08/2007, additional
Within division project services, I helped enterprise customer across various sectors like banking, insurance and engineering.
I promoted the idea of deploying and accessing business critical applications and services using the Wintel platform and within heterogeneous environments. My primary specialization was focussed on global usage of Terminalservices/Citrix and web integration. In addition, I assisted in pilot projects and conduct several proofs of concept regarding new
04/2003 to 08/2007
I was founding associate member and I had the mission delivering the internally used IT-portfolio embedded into a mobility and security concept that supported my fieldwork colleagues and IT experts and that also was consumed by our management. These requirements covered design, operations and the ongoing evolution. Later the needs were enhanced by an expansion requirement to onboard new locations and the overall IT-architecture evolved into a multitenancy model.
Founded in Hamburg, the Systematics corporation has been a nationwide acting IT consulting firm and allowed me jumping forward into large account business, focussed on delivering complex project services and solution offerings. Customer audience has been the majority of Germany's top 500 industry and financial services companies.
When I worked for them in division project and system services in the Düsseldorf subsidiary, I focussed on Microsoft infrastructure and Citrix desktop/application delivery.
(Systematics was acquired and merged into EDS by 2002.)
2002 to 03/2003
Being part of the business unit project services, I worked with customers from industries like banking, insurance and engineering. The job included pre-sales, design, consulting and supporting heterogeneous backend architectures.
Beyond my typical project engagement I completed pilot installations and technology proofs of concept in a range between 500 to 2,500 users.
2001
I focussed on enterprise project services, being responsible for designing and implementing client/server-systems and various solutions based on Microsoft and Citrix products. This was enhanced by research and writing studies on IT architecture and early adopter deployments.
The MEGRA has been a small IT service organization located in Solingen, Germany. They were supporting large taxation and auditing advisory firms (DATEV software products) and their customers belonging to industrial sectors that heavily used production-planning systems.
Network engineering has been an important area of specialization. Over the course of time, I pushed them into a Microsoft-oriented business model.
07/1997 to end of 2000
I advanced my career based on flexible employment models, resulting in a three-days-a-week engagement because of the positive experience in the past.
My duties were networking, server technologies, customer service, second-level support and I also managed the internal company network. I delivered technology solutions such as unified messaging, document management and CRM/ERP/commodities management. By the end of 1997 I took over strategic responsibility on deployments with Microsoft server products. MEGRA was certified as a DATEV systemspartner plus, so my daily work included conceptual and technological aspects of DATEV products for professional services agencies.
1995 to 06/1997
A few months before I started my professional education, a customer asked for an individual and very specialized solution. I took over responsibility for creating and programming the solution, based on weekend efforts. Approximately
Obviously, adoptions were required to integrate the solution into their existing multi-user environment and so I also started managing their server infrastructure.
1993 to end of 1994
While I still was in school, I completed some programming tasks as a temporary worker. I had the opportunity to realize two small projects: a commodities management system was missing some features, and we delivered add-on tools. These became integrated in production environment for several customers.
I realized database access based on Novell-Btrieve and so I also started managing server infrastructure technologies, too.
The Westdeutsche Landesbank based in Düsseldorf has been a combination of a centralized financial institute, a systems bank leading the Sparkasse organization and a worldwide acting industry financial partner. This is where I started my job life.
Because of the worldwide financial crisis starting in 2007, the bank was divided into different units by 2012 finally.
08/1995 to 06/1997
I completed my commercial accounting apprenticeship, but I realized in an early stage that I couldn't link and combine my IT interests with industry-specific user knowledge and application needs in this company.
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