Networking, Communications, Computer, & Software Expert With Focus To: Cloud Computing, Wifi, Cellular, Web Services & System Architecture

Expertise

Executing high level network, communications, computer, software support and services, applying a broad array of critical technologies including; Wi-Fi, cellular communications, networking, cloud computing, diverse software coding, and web services.  Awarded 11 patents. 

• Wireless telecommunications – 3GPP, 3GPP2, mobile broadband, radio access network (RAN), core network, femtocell, small cells, inter-technology handover and roaming.
• Local area networks – Wi-Fi (WLAN, mesh, infrastructure, 802.11 standard), Hotspot 2.0, Passpoint, Ethernet (802.3 standard).
• Internet-of-Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications – LoRa, LoRaWAN, LTE Cat-M, NB-IoT.
• Internet standards and protocols – TCP/IP, UDP, RTP, DHCP, DNS, ARP, GRE, etc.
• Internet security standards – IPSec, IKEv2, L2/L3 tunneling, NAT/NAPT (firewall) and VPN.
• Authentication, Authorization, Accounting standards – RADIUS, DIAMETER, SAML, and oAuth.
• Network management, element management, device management – Broadband Forum TR-69, IETF SNMP standards.
• Cloud computing and related technologies; Network function virtualization (NFV), and software defined networking (SDN).
• Self-organizing network and self-optimizing network (SON).
• Computer network architecture, telecommunications network system architectures.
• Web Services technologies – REST/JSON API design and implementation, Amazon Web Services (AWS), HTML, CSS, web design and development, web hosting, JavaScript, CGI Programming.
• Big Data, Avro, Parquet.
• Optical networking, Plastic Optical Fiber (POF).
• Software architecture, software design, coding – object-oriented design and programming, design patterns, real-time embedded applications
• Software programming languages – Go Lang, C, C++, Perl, LabVIEW, BASIC, Pascal, Unix shell scripting languages.
• Quality of Service (QoS), fair scheduling, fair queueing.
• Interconnection networks and switching fabrics for parallel computers, networking switches, and routers.
• Operating Systems – Real-Time Operating System (RTOS), Unix, Linux, iOS, Android.

Expert Witness Experience

Expert Witness services in patent, intellectual property, and other legal cases concerning Networking & Communications, Wi-Fi, Cellular Technologies, Cloud Computing, and Web Services of case.

Experience

BWN LLC, President and Consulting, 2008 - Present

Standards, Strategic and Technology Consulting

• Specialize in wireless networking and telecommunications. Usually consult for large telecommunications service providers and their technology supplier, domestic and international.
• Offer contract-based consulting services in the following areas.
• Pathfinding for new technology ideas and new service concepts, technology positioning, product positioning, standards and trade group engagement strategies, technology and product roadmap development, business strategy, launch planning, vendor/customer/partner relationship management.
• RFI/RFP development and response standards and industry trade group strategy development, standards and industry trade group representation, standards development, standards monitoring, standards analysis.
• Network/system architecture design and development, technology evaluation, product evaluation, technology/product trial design and management, technology/product roadmap development, white paper development, RFI/RFP development and response.

Consulting Projects

Comcast

• Wireless business, product, and technology strategy development for Comcast’ entrance to the wireless communications service provider market. Developed long term network and system architecture roadmap for Comcast’s wireless communications services platform.
• Strategically evaluated new technologies and new products for efficacy against longer ranged business, architectural, and technological objectives.
• Standards research and development and trade groups engagements. Engaged LoRa Alliance, CableLabs, Wi-Fi Alliance, Small Cell Forum, and WiMAX Forum representing Comcast’s interests.
• Network and system architecture efforts that contributed to Comcast’s eventual XfinityWiFi platform.
• Developed roaming and federation system architecture as it relates to partnering with other cable operators and wireless providers (MSOs and MNOs) to provide services – e.g., on matters of cross technology inter-op, cross service provider tunneling and inter-op, cross provider billing, cross provider and cross radio access technology service handoffs, resulted in the Hotspot 2.0 / Passpoint standard.
• Conceived architecture options and corresponding roadmaps, presented architecture options and roadmaps to senior management (Senior VP and VP levels) and to leaders of different internal organizations, with analyses on benefits, costs, and trade-offs for different architecture options and roadmaps.
• Worked with Comcast’s management to drive consensus and secure buy-ins from different internal organizations for technology and architecture roadmaps.
• Designed, planned, and choreographed demonstrations of new technologies and new products with partnering suppliers. Presented such demonstrations to senior management and leaders from different internal organizations to help them understand how the new technologies or new products would fit into the company’s longer term strategic vision.
• Reformulated market and customer requirements into technical requirements in Product Requirement Document (PRD).
• RFI/RFP: Drafted large scale Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) documents used to drive vendor selection processes.
• Evaluated RFI/RFP responses and provided recommendations on vendor selections
• Subsequent vendor management through field trials towards launch
• Defined system capabilities and use cases to be supported, considerations included:
• Residential Wi-Fi services, outdoor public Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as commercial (business-specific and venue-specific) Wi-Fi services, pay-peruse, “day passes,” sponsored access, cellular offloading, etc.
• Support for video and audio streaming, ensuring harmonious coexistence with other consumer radio frequency products and services (including 2G/3G/4G cellular services, Bluetooth, ZigBee, connected home, wireless home security systems, and other IEEE 802.15-based services).
• Consulted on the integration of small cells (femtocells) into Comcast’s infrastructure.
• Researched options to expand Wi-Fi to special, unconventional venues (e.g., trains).
• Internet of Things (IoT), with Comcast’s MachineQ subsidiary:
• IoT standards & architecture
• IoT technology use case identification and products evaluation
• Long term technology and product roadmap development
• IoT network cloud computing architecture
• LoRaWAN standards development, LoRa Alliance engagement
• RFI/RFP, drafting, evaluation, and vendor selection
• Vendor management through technology integration and field trial
• Technology showcase and demonstration
• Deployment strategy development.

CableLabs

• Researched and authored technical papers for CableLabs, an international consortium for cable communications service providers, on the following topics:
• Wi-Fi Fast Transition (handoffs) in the context of CableLabs’ Community Wi-Fi Architecture (commercial deployments known as CableWiFi, XfinityWiFi, OptimumWiFi, etc.)
• Architectures for deploying Community Wi-Fi using Extenders
• Plastic Optical Fibers (POF) and its potential for 10+ Gbps home networking.

Cox Communications

• Led system architect work while consulting for Cox Communications’ Strategic Architecture group for its long-term, comprehensive Wi-Fi re-architecture and corresponding roadmap development efforts to consolidate Cox’s residential, commercial, and metro Wi-Fi service platforms; dubbed Converged Wi-Fi.
• Defined long-term network system architecture that supports Cox’s strategic Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software-Defined Networking (SDN), and Cloud Computing vision as well as other business and product needs (present needs and anticipated future needs), blended with knowledge and insights on industry trends and standards development directions.
• Developed roadmaps and corresponding financial models for intermediate milestones towards the long-term architecture with options to accelerate or delay various components of the architecture to allow flexible response to changing market trends and budget constraints.
• Worked with Cox’s management to drive consensus and secure buy-ins from different internal organizations for the eventual adoption of the architecture and roadmap.
• Lead contributor for the customer premise technology and CPE pieces of Cox’s Network Transformation 2.0 initiative, a project that maps out Cox’s ten-year network evolution roadmap and associated financial modeling and forecasting; included video, data, and voice services.
• Contributed to and reviewed various RFI/RFP and solution design efforts to ensure alignment with the long-term Converged Wi-Fi, NFV & SDN architecture and roadmap.
• Engaged CableLabs on Cox’s behalf and represented Cox’s interests.

Plume Design, Inc. 

• Functioned as Plume’s primary liaison with a national, multi-divisional, North American Tier-1 communications service provider, managed customer relationship.
• Launched Plume-powered services across three generations of Wi-Fi technologies, three generations of flagship gateway platforms, and three generations of Wi-Fi extender platforms.
• Led cross-functional teams through multiple product and platform launches, triaged and managed post-launch issues, and incorporated learnings from multiple iterations of product and process improvement cycles along the way.
• Worked through multiple cycles of product and platform deliveries, from requirement identification to requirement prioritization, to engineering delivery, to lab trials and field trials, and ultimately to market launches.
• Cross functional coordination at all stages of the relationship with the communications service provider across product management, sales & marketing, engineering (hardware, firmware, middleware, integration), cloud operations, network operations, warehouse operations, supply chain logistics, data science with big data, mobile app, field support, customer call center support, as well as the gateway vendor’s various teams.
• Communicate across all levels of organizations, including field support, engineering, middle management, and senior executive leadership teams.
• Developed solution architectures and solution designs that cut across multiple organizations and business functions.
• Managed and smoothed out “integration pains” and “process pains” between a very aggressive start-up and a more deliberative Tier-1 communications service provider.
• Shepherded Cloud API integrations with the service provider’s provisioning systems, authentication systems, inventory warehousing system, big data service assurance and business intelligence systems.
• Blazed a trail for a job function that Plume later formalized as “Technical Account Management.”
• Significantly influenced user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs for the end-users, particularly with regards to onboarding and login processes.
• Significantly influenced Cloud integration architectures and API designs.
• Responded to RFIs/RFPs issued by major communications service providers.

Accelera Mobile Broadband, Inc.

• Consulted on system architecture, product management, and product positioning for Accelera’s vendor-independent, cloud-based managed Wi-Fi service platform.
• With support for residential Wi-Fi, dense multi-dwelling units (MDUs), small and medium business (SMB) Wi-Fi, enterprise and commercial Wi-Fi (including hospitality as a vertical).
• Platform includes cloud-based servers, mobile apps (iOS and Android), and web-based interfaces for provisioning and monitoring of Wi-Fi services.
• Advised Accelera on engaging and maintaining relationships with strategic customers that are Tier-1 communications service providers.
• Managed and maintained relationship with Tier-1 communication service provider on Accelera’s behalf.
• Identified and formulated customer and marketing requirements for Accelera.

Tatara Systems, Inc.

• Consulted on architecture, standards, and product positioning for Tatara’s Convergence Server.
• Formulated standards and engineering development roadmaps for Tatara to rearchitect and reposition its Convergence Server, which was originally designed to function as a Wi-Fi service gateway into the mobile operators’ core networks, into a platform that functions as a small cell (femtocell) service convergence server while leveraging the existing hardware and code base.

Airvana, Inc., Consulting Engineer, Lead System Architect

• Consulted on large scale RFI/RFP responses to Tier-1 wireless service provider with regards to small cell and femtocell solutions.
• Authored multiple technical whitepapers as part of RFI/RFP responses.
• Research and development of wireless network femtocell and small cell solutions.
• Network and System Architecture
• Lead network system architect for Airvana’s CDMA/EV-DO small cell solution.
• Key contributor to Airvana’s UMTS small cell network system architecture.
• Key contributor to Airvana’s enterprise and public safety small cell network system architecture..

Customer Interface

• Routinely gave in-depth technical presentations on small cell solutions and routinely engaged in strategic and in-depth technical discussions with Tier 1 service providers’ engineering, operations, and senior leadership teams, including CxOs, domestic and international alike.
• Led technical responses to large scale RFIs/RFPs.
• Handled customers’ in-depth technical questions.
• Evaluate customers’ feature and customization requests and reformulate such requests into product requirements as appropriate.

Standards

• Routinely engaged in 3GPP2 standards meetings and drafted 3GPP2 standards proposals.
• Contributed standards proposals in the areas of small cell network architecture, air interface system selection, and related small cell standards.
• Worked strategically with customers and technology partners in matters of standards development.

Engineering Development and Leadership

• Bootstrapped early development, built up the pioneering engineering team.
• Led engineering development planning efforts for the product line, including coordination with functional leads from the hardware, software, system integration, and quality assurance teams.
• Significantly influenced selections of third-party hardware (HW) and software (SW) component suppliers, offshore development partners, OEM partners, and solutions partners.

System Engineering

• Developed small cell product roadmap and defined product requirements.
• Significant contribution to the usability and user friendliness (user interface and user experience aspects, UI/UX) of small cell solutions for the consumer market, especially with regards to empowering the end-users to self-install, self-configure, self-provision, and self-manage their small cells.
• Increased small cell system capacity and optimized performance, especially for real-time interactive streaming audio (such as Voice-over-IP, VoIP).
• System design with public safety considerations including E-911 and Wireless Emergency Alert.

System Architect – WiMax solution

• System architect for Airvana’s WiMAX solution, led WiMax product R&D activities.
• Engaged the WiMax Forum representing Airvana’s interests.
• Contributed to WiMax standards R&D and drafting activities.
• PHY-MAC & protocol stack vendor evaluation and selection.
• Led software development planning.
• Oversaw software R&D (on- and off-shore).

Software Developer – cdma2000 EV-DO RAN embedded software

• Extensive embedded software R&D experiences taking feature requests from idea to functional specification, design specification, implementation, integration, QA testing, and ultimately to production release (general availability). A few of such projects are outlined below.
• EV-DO Rev. A “Test Application Protocol” (“TAP”) – led a team of 3 engineers to very quickly design, code, test, and deliver through SQA an implementation of the Rev. A “TAP” feature in response to last minute customer demand.
• RAN signaling stack transport enhancement – Designed and delivered RDS (“RAN Datagram Services”), a fast and lightweight Airvana-proprietary signaling transport protocol to complement the TCP-based Abis signaling interface for the Macro RAN products. RDS uses standard GRE-based IP-based routing inter-nodes but allows easy application level arbitrary tag-based routing intra-nodes (inter-CPUs).
• Outer Loop Power Control Scaling – Achieved five-fold increase in CPU usage efficiency in the Radio Network Controller (RNC)’s Reverse Link power control outer loop by hotspot analysis and code optimization.
• Call Control protocol negotiation – Wrote functional specification for Call Control’s Session Configuration Protocol. Delivered the RTC-MAC portion of this large protocol negotiation suite.
• Large scale system integration and testing – Spearheaded the “focused test” effort that stress-tested the RNC platform. Participated in the “100 DOM Test” in a customer’s lab where 100 DOMs (essentially radio nodes, RNs) were connected to one RNC for stress testing.
• DOM-Metrocell communications stack – designed and delivered the communications stack that allowed Airvana’s DOM (“DO Module,” essentially an RN) to communicate with OEM customer Nortel’s Metrocell base station. Performed integration work in Nortel facilities with Nortel engineers.
• System and Platform work – designed and delivered device drivers, crash dump facilities, built-in test framework and test suites, the network-boot portion of the bootloader, and other nitty-gritty things that were necessary to get new platforms off the ground.
• General productivity enhancements – led the effort to put in place Airvana’s early telecommuting support infrastructure, restructured makefiles to make it more scalable and easier to add new components, developed scripts to automate various compile/link/test tasks, etc.

Carrier IQ, Inc., Solutions Architect

• Provided domain expertise and shouldered project leadership responsibilities in the area of large-scale cellular network analytics.

Lucent Technologies, Core Switching Division, Software Engineer

• Technical lead for the switch fabric “core shelf” of Lucent’s then next-generation high-speed multi- service packet switch platform (project code-named “OZ”).
• Designed and developed switching fabric control software for OZ
• Contributed to the architectural and network management aspects of OZ’s highly distributed multi-shelf, multi-computing switching platform.
• Invented “Switch Core Virtual Segmentation”, a technique that enabled true 1:1 switch fabric blade level redundancy using only one set of third-party supplied multi-blade crossbar switch fabric.

Honors & Publications

Languages 

• English (full business proficiency, speaking and writing)
• Chinese – Mandarin (full business proficiency, speaking and writing)
• Chinese dialects – Cantonese, Taiwanese (speaking fluent)

Academic and Professional Affiliations

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Senior Member
• Eta Kappa Nu (HKN, honor society of the IEEE), Member
• Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC), Treasurer
• Philadelphia IEEE Consultant Network, Vice Chair

Publications and Patents

• Author and Co-Author of higher education text books, peer reviewed publications conferences and symposia.
• Patents – awarded 11 patents in the areas of network security, network management, network selection and device provisioning, network/system architecture, mobility management, access control, service activation, network planning/configuration, and authentication protocols.

Education

• MSCS    Computer Science, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri,
• BSSE     Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri,
• BSCoE. Computer Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
• B.A.       Computer Science, College of Wooster, Ohio.