The Story in The Hour November 10th, 2003. For a scanned image of the real page, click here.

PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS

Computer pro wins top award from Oracle for database work

By AMRITA DHINDSA
Hour Staff Writer

Norwalk resident Arup Nanda recently won the prestigious Database Administrator of the Year award from Oracle. His company, Proligence, provides clients with Oracle-based business solutions.

NORWALK -- When Arup Nanda heard he was getting the award, he said he never imagined in his wildest dreams that he would be a recipient. The Norwalk resident and database manager was recently awarded the prestigious DBA of the Year award by Oracle Corp.

Nanda, an Oracle certified database administrator; was chosen from a pool of 250000 people around the world for his expertise in using Oracle database technology to solve a complex business problem and for his active contributions to the Oracle user community.

It was one of the executive editors of Select, the International Oracle User Group’s magazine, which Nanda helps edit, that nominated him.

In writing to the selection committee, nominator Tony Jedlinsky praised the database manager for actively contributing to Select, soliciting technical articles for the journal and developing an article template and standards document.

"I believe these accomplishments are evidence of the many ways in which Arup has effectively demonstrated leadership in the role of an Oracle DBA, intelligently leveraged the latest technology advanced from Oracle, and clearly served as an inspiration to co-workers, including the thousands of readers of Select Journal,” said Jedlinsky.

For Nanda, the award came as a surprise. "I was told in late August that I was the winner. Until then I never even in my wildest dreams thought about it. All my nominators also kept mum about it,” said Nanda.

Nanda has been very active in the Oracle community. Besides being an editor for Select Journal, he is also the executive director of the Hartford-based Connecticut Oracle User Group, speaks frequently at Oracle technical conferences and symposiums, and has written several articles for professional journals.

Apart from that, Nanda is the principal author of “Oracle Privacy Security Auditing” from Rampant TechPress.

Nanda currently owns and operates a Norwalk-based company called Proligence, which provides specialized solutions to companies in the tield of Oracle database technology His customers at this moment include Cigna Healthcare in Bloomfield, Oxford Health Plans in Trumbull, IntelliClaim in Norwalk and AOL Time-Warner/Synapse in Stamford.

The 32-year-old computer professional moved to Norwalk from New Jersey where he was working with Lucent Technologies.

Nanda was born and raised in India. He graduated with an engineering degree from Sambalpur University in India and then did his MBA at XLRI, India. Nanda immigrated to the United States in May 1995 and worked for companies in Richmond, Va. and Eatontown, N.J before coming to Norwalk, where he lives with his wile Anindita, who is a Web site developer and teaches Indian classical dance and music. The couple is expecting their first child in February.

When he is not working, Nanda loves to play tennis, reading particularly books by Earl Stanley Gardener and Arthur Hailey - collect stamps and coins and paint landscapes, something which New England offers a lot of, he says.

Amrita Dhindsa covers Greater Norwalk. She can be reached at 354-1006.