RESUME OF

	ROBERT B. WOODSIDE ONE QUEEN'S COURT DANBURY, CT 06811 (203) 791-2315

E-mail:
rwoodside1@woodsway.com

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A consultant with over 20 years’ software engineering experience ranging from mainframes to Unix servers/workstations to PC’s, seeking challenging consulting engagements in which to apply that breadth of expertise.

CONSULTING CLIENTS:

• IBM
• New York Life
• Document Systems, Inc.
• Arthritis Foundation
• Pepsico
• Forest Investment Management
• American Diabetes Association
• Prevent Blindness Connecticut
• Dice Software and Services
• Focus Management Services, Inc.
• Joint Venture Systems, Inc.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

WOODSWAY CONSULTING, INC. - Danbury, CT - 1987 to present

Position: Consultant/Partner/President

• I developed an AJAX-based Web front end for an investment firm’s trading and risk management system, using JavaScript and XMLHttpRequest objects to provide a fluid and responsive interface to the back end via an XML message protocol. I also worked on the server side, using Smalltalk servlets under the Visual Wave application server and an MS SQL Server 2000 data store. For the front end I developed a browser-agnostic wrapper object and a queueing/dispatching and cross-page sharing infrastructure for the XMLHttpRequest, and a fast, native JavaScript implementation of the DOM 2 Traversal interfaces (i.e., the TreeWalker) for DOM-challenged browsers like IE6.
• I developed a Web based savings analysis and reporting system for a software start-up, targeted at healthcare providers and their participating physicians. It was written in pure Tcl/Tk and including an embedded Web server, virtual filesystem, and PDF generation functions, wrapped as a Tclkit/Starpack binary executable. Though targeted at MS SQL Server users, it could support various database servers via an ODBC layer.
• I developed XML-based TCP/IP servers (C/C++) and remote client interfaces (Java/Swing) for a software vendor, to interface to their legacy MVS batch applications under OS/390. The primary general-purpose server was a portably designed POSIX-style program, with compile options to allow it to be runnable either on Unix systems or under OS/390 as a batch job or started task. Under OS/390, non-POSIX extensions were used to handle tasks such as dynamic allocation and manipulation of MVS datasets, submission of internal reader jobs, etc. I also assisted the client with installation and configuration of OS/390 under FLEX-ES, debugging of the FLEX-ES software, and general system administration of their SCO Unix server.
• I developed an XML-based interface for a software vendor’s external client programs to access legacy 3270-based CICS BMS applications via the CICS Web and 3270 Bridge facilities. This involved modeling the 3270 data stream, BMS entities, and the application data in XML structures to allow the client programs to concentrate on data manipulation and interaction, rather than presenting them with an old-fashioned “screen-scraping” interface. The project involved components written in C, C++, Assembler, and COBOL.
• I developed a generic TCP/IP listener and transaction router running under CICS for a major insurance company. This allowed the client to eliminate several intermediate layers of routing between user applications and remote CICS transactions, and greatly improved performance. Indeed, throughput was increased so much that I had to implement a user-settable transaction rate throttle, because some other system components could not handle the resulting speed.
• I have developed MS Office-based applications for several clients, utilizing MS Access, Excel, and Visual Basic, using both native Access databases and external database sources accessed via ODBC.
• I have developed numerous scripts in VBScript, Tcl/Tk, Perl, Unix shell (Bourne and Korn), and PHP to automate or simplify various Unix system administration functions, such as monitoring of critical services, firewall configuration, intrusion detection, and reporting of Web server, mail server, and other network activity.
• I have been a Linux specialist since 1994, building numerous standard and custom systems, either based on standard distributions (RedHat, SUSE, Debian, Slackware) or custom-built from scratch. I am expert at configuring Linux systems as network gateways, firewalls, and database servers in heterogeneous networks, and have done occasional kernel and module hacking (for the vfat file system and Tulip Ethernet drivers).
• I worked on the development team for an e-mail based distributed expense-reporting system under Windows and OS/2, written in C and interfacing with Exchange/MSMail, Lotus Notes, and GroupWise; and subsequently worked on a cross-platform re-implementation of that system, written in pure Java and independent of any 3rd party communications mechanisms, to run on the PC, Macintosh, and Unix systems. I also installed and administered the group’s Solaris and AIX servers, and served as Unix consultant to the development group.
• I served on the design team for an n-tier, client/server application infrastructure to support a major new payroll system and to allow interoperability between legacy code and new development; developed the low-level portable system components and APIs, enforcing an object-oriented middleware approach within a conventional C programming environment; and also developed an infrastructure for developing “Y2K-safe” applications, and tools for testing Y2K-compliance - 10 years before it became fashionable.
• I was responsible for a CICS emulator for a major software firm - a standalone VTAM application that mimicked the CICS Command Level API to support the company's online products.
• I was one of the first to use mainframe C in RACF user exits (for an internal security project for IBM). I was also one of the first to use C under CICS, circa 1989 – before it was supported, which required some reverse engineering and building an assembler framework to mock up the C runtime environment and functions called by the compiler-generated function prologue and epilogue code.
• I worked on a redesign of IBM’s Cryptographic Subsystem for MVS, and worked with the RACF development group.
• I have developed and conducted courses for clients in telecommunications protocols and access methods (BTAM, TCAM, and VTAM-SNA).

Principal in independent consulting business, specializing in telecommunications, operating system internals, portable software design, and networked client-server solutions.

I maintain a full Unix (Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD) and Windows development environment on the company’s intranet, including 2 Apache servers (Versions 1 & 2), an AOLserver, 2 Visual Wave Smalltalk servers (Windows and Linux), and the Macromedia Studio suite for Web development; SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Sybase, and Oracle; the standard suite of Linux/Unix development tools (gcc, gdb, etc.), and Visual Studio 2005 for Windows development in C/C++, VB .NET, and C#.

I am regularly involved in Web site development projects, using Apache & IIS, Perl, PHP, and JavaScript, on Solaris, Linux, and Windows platforms, and Access/VBA development.

• Author of TkZip^©, a popular graphical archive/compression utility for Unix and Windows systems, (http://woodsway.com/TkZip). Built in Tcl/Tk for ease of maintenance and portability, it is arguably superior in many ways to its better-known Windows-only counterpart, WinZip^®, and has been included with various Linux distributions.
• I have been a member since 1998 of the development team for FVWM, the most powerful and flexible window manager available for the X Window System, yet less resource-intensive than most. I have been a member since 1998 of the development team for FVWM, the most powerful and flexible window manager available for the X Window System, yet less resource-intensive than most.
• I have contributed to many open source software projects since 1996.

CANAAN COMPUTER CORPORATION - Trumbull, CT - 1985 - 1987

Position: Senior Software Engineer

I was responsible for coordinating support of the company's OEM customers during the rollout of CANAAN's second-generation 370-compatible processor; and developed a strategy for implementing true PCM-style support of native IBM operating systems, via a small hypervisor type OS kernel, to eliminate the overhead of hosting CMS as a user-space process under a Unix- derivative kernel with a CP-emulation layer in between.

I served as senior technical consultant and liaison between the Hardware Engineering and Software Engineering departments during the design and implementation of the company’s second and third generation processors; assisted in optimization of the new processors’ microcode; developed enhancements to the VM emulation capabilities (CP compatibility) of the company's proprietary, UNIX-derivative operating system (MULTOS); and identified and analyzed performance bottlenecks in the company’s other Unix- derivative OS, which drove the system’s Motorola 68K-based I/O processor and attached controllers.

I also developed a multitasking diagnostic monitor (a stand-alone mini OS kernel, actually) for testing new CPU board designs. Developed standards for new diagnostic programs, and wrote diagnostics for CANAAN's non-PCM PER and DAT implementation. Developed automated testing programs for checkout of new boards in the manufacturing plant to test proper functioning of all CPU instructions and operation of the I/O subsystems.

TSI INTERNATIONAL - Wilton, CT - 1978 - 1985

Position: Manager of Product Integration

I took over responsibility for online integration of the company's disparate software product line. Activities involved development of standalone versions of the company's online products with an embedded TP monitor derived from TASK/MASTER.

This group also had responsibility for support and development of TASK/MASTER.

Position: Manager of Software Engineering

I was responsible for startup of a new department and for preliminary design specification for new product offerings.

Position: Product Technical Manager

I was responsible for the support and development staffs of the Data Dictionary product group: was also responsible for sales/marketing support; and developed a long-term strategy for merging six discrete versions of the multi-mainframe, DBMS-independent dictionary into one manageable set of portable source, and for replacing its fixed entity/attribute set architecture with a table-driven, generic architecture. This latter greatly reduced the size of the system, and made the dictionary extensible and also suitable for driving non-data dictionary oriented applications and spin-off products.

Position: Senior Product Specialist

In addition to the duties outlined below, I was responsible for integration of the DATA CATALOGUE II product line following TSI's acquisition of Synergetics Corporation.

Position: Product Specialist

I served as the ultimate technical authority for TASK/MASTER, TSI's general purpose TP monitor (a competitor of CICS in the 1970's and early 1980’s), which supported all standard IBM file and TP access methods, as well as nonstandard EXCP-level device support and a proprietary disk access method; coordinated all phases of product activity - support, development, release preparation, marketing and sales support; trained field support staff; and provided last recourse technical support for the field staff.

Position: Customer Support Representative

I served as senior member of the central support staff, which was the top level of the customer support hierarchy and was responsible for all domestic maintenance programming and about 25% of domestic RPQ work; and also provided direct customer support, both onsite and via the central telephone Hotline, and provided technical assistance for the field support staff.

ASSOCIATED CREDIT SERVICES - Houston, TX - 1975 - 1978

Positions Held: Senior Programmer, Programmer, Senior Computer Operator, Computer Operator

I did sysgens and software product installations, and did design development, and maintenance on the full range of the company's applications, online and batch.

The shop used an in-house TP monitor employing IBM System7s as front-end processors with in-house TDM-emulation software, and an in-house database. All programming was done in assembler, on various IBM 370 models under releases of DOS ranging from Release 26 to Release 34.

EDUCATION:

BA, English, Lamar University;
Graduate study, Duke University

HARDWARE:

PLATFORMS:

LANGUAGES:

SOFTWARE