I’ve been developing Software for about 35 years, the last 24 at Cisco Systems. I left Cisco in October of 2020. Over my career I’ve have been extremely fortunate. I’ve worked on some great projects and with some of the smartest people in the world. I’ve loved every minute of it.

Awards

  • 2017 Pioneer Award - Core Technology - Vector Packet Processing
  • 2009 Pioneer Award - Core Technology - MPLS Traffic Engineering (Team Member)
  • Outstanding Customer Advocacy

US Patents

  • Facilitating persistence of routing states
  • Facilitating communication of routing information
  • Use of enhanced Ethernet LINK_LOOP packets to automate configuration of intelligent line cards attached to a router
  • Multiprocessor Cache Coherency Checker
  • Line Card Discovery Protocol.

Volunteering and Fundraising

The Latest

I taught myself how to develop Software using Swift and Xcode. I did this using a podcast of a Stanford University class that was held in 2017. It was a little bit dated, but it did serve the purpose. In addition to Swift and Xcode I learned a little bit about Views, Storyboards and debugging with Xcode.

I did enjoyed this, but I’ve also wanted to become proficient building web sites.

For this I needed to learn a little bit about HTML, CSS, and Javascript. To do this I used Modern Javascript and W3 schools.

There are many ways to build Web Sites and I did look into a bunch. I decided to use Hugo and Netlify. I chose Hugo and Netlify because I had some experience with these, I like the control you have over the content, builds are fast and it is easy to work with. Some great resources are: Hugo Tutorial, Hugo Reference and Hugo Variables. I learned how to host my site using Google Domains and Netlify to serve the DNS records.

I’ve also been volunteering at Mass General Hospital in Boston. I am still working with Python and C++ and love helping young students with their studies and work.

Cisco Systems

April 2009 — Oct 2020

A little over 10 years ago I joined a team that was working on the Vector Packet Processor (VPP). VPP is one of the fastest packet processor and forwarder in the industry. It is written in “C”, runs in Linux User Space and is the core of the open source FD.io project.

This small group of 6-8 was a perfect fit for me. I started debugging existing code, writing drivers, utilities, and whatever else was needed to make VPP a success. The next 10 years would prove to be a wonderful journey.

After a short time we would be asked develop VPP under the Chief Technical Architect Office (CTAO). While part of CTAO we worked with open source projects to develop many Proof of Concepts (POCs) and demos for executives, customers and other groups within Cisco.

It was really enjoyed exploring and experimenting with tools like Openstack, Docker, Kubernetes, Sphinx, Hugo, REST and VMWare.

After many years developing in “C” on a proprietary Operating System it was quite the adventure to make Python my primary programming language and Linux my primary Operating System.

Because our group was based in San Jose we lost our Lab support in Boxborough. This gave me the opportunity to support our lab. I maintained many different Cisco routers, servers and PCs, configuring and connecting them in all sorts of ways.

I loved training new members of our team and helping new teams understand VPP. With the help of some interns and a technical writer we updated almost all of the VPP documentation. I really enjoyed mentoring the interns and watch them become successful. We worked with Linux Foundation Marketing to develop the updated FD.io Web Site.

VPP became a very successful Open Source project. VPP is now part of and the main piece of the FD.io Project.

I have always prided myself on being able to do “Whatever it Takes” to make a project successful. I have been told many times and in different ways “You are always willing to take on any job big or small and make it work”.

Cisco Systems (1996)

February 1996 — April 2008

Part of an award winning engineering team responsible for the development of QOS, RSVP, MPLS, and Fast Reroute protocols with many successful customer deployments.

Responsible for the support of hardware modules that were part of a Cisco CMTS.

Develop software for Cisco proprietary SONET ASIC, packet forwarding ASIC, and Intel devices.

Digital Equipment Corporation

1986 — 1996

Part of a team that designed and developed a multitasking kernel used for a console, design verification code, and diagnostics used on DEC’s Alpha and VAX based systems. Responsible for diagnostic and design verification code for the same systems.

Education

1983

Northeastern University, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering