Rob Tweed

Rob Tweed is Director and co-founder of M/Gateway Developments Ltd, a UK company that, since 1996, has specialized in web and internet technologies, in particular in conjunction with the Caché and GT.M databases.

He is the author of EWD.js, a Node.js-based framework for browser-based client/server applications.  EWD.js is specifically designed for use with the Caché and GT.M technologies, but supports other NoSQL databases including MongoDB.

Rob’s IT career started at the Royal Marsden Hospital, the UK’s premier cancer hospital based in London and Surrey, where he headed up the application development team within their Computer Department.  He spent 4 years working in the Healthcare IT team at Touche Ross Management Consultants in London, during which time he became a key member of the NHS-Wide Networking Project team, one of Europe’s largest-ever networking projects. 

After becoming an independent consultant in the mid-1990s, Rob has focused exclusively on web technologies, with a particular focus on their role in healthcare.  He was the inspiration behind WebLink, a web gateway product that he and his fellow co-director Chris Munt created and sold to InterSystems, the vendor of Caché.  InterSystems’ WebLink Developer framework, the pre-cursor to EWD.js, was also developed by Rob, and he has consulted with and supported many of InterSystems’ major customers around the world in their web application projects, the largest of which is Quest Diagnostics in the USA.

Recent high-profile work includes his technical support and development of the JavaScript User Interface for Oroville Hospital’s winning entry in 2013 to the US Dept of Veteran’s Affairs Scheduling competition.

Rob's blog, The EWD Files, provides insight and technical background to EWD.js and its use in market sectors such as healthcare.  It also aims to present a new and modern context in which to consider the role and value of the little-known and poorly-understood Caché and GT.M database technologies, particularly as uniquely powerful and flexible NoSQL databases that fit naturally into the new browser & JavaScript-dominated world.

His technical expertise includes:

  • Node.js
  • Javascript
  • JSON
  • Javascript frameworks including Bootstrap, jQuery, ExtJS and Sencha Touch
  • Caché and GT.M
  • NoSQL databases
  • WebSockets
  • XML

Rob has presented at a wide range of conferences in the USA and UK, including Ajax World, Cloud Computing, EHI Live, London Node.js Users Group and InterSystems' Developers Conference.