Michael Gilfix Online

LAST UPDATED: JAN, 2008
Contact me: mgilfix@gmail.com

WORK EXPERIENCE

ARCHITECTURE AND STRATEGY

IBM Software Group - WebSphere Business Process Management & Connectivity (Austin, TX)

Responsibilities include defining business and technical strategies across the WebSphere Business Process Management & Connectivity (BPM&C) product portfolio (a key segment of the WebSphere brand, including Process Server, ESB, Integration Developer, Monitor, Modeler, WebSphere Service Registry and Repository, Business Service Fabric, and more, with software revenues in excess of $400M), working with key customers and product management to elicit and define requirements, supporting the sales process, ensuring successful customer deployments and realized business value, translating strategy vision into implementation architecture, and managing execution in a matrixed environment across multi-site distributed development, Q/A, and documentation teams within the product portfolio. (Oct 2007 - Present)

PRODUCT LEAD ARCHITECT

IBM Software Group - Service Provider Solutions (Austin, TX)

Responsible for architecture, product technical strategy, and coordination of multi-site development & test (~35 dev people) for IBM’s Telecom Web Services Server product. The product provides access to core service provider infrastructure via Web Services. This hides the complexity of the service provider network, reduces the amount of knowledge required to access services, and provides a stable API on top of an evolving network. Additional responsibilities include working with customers and business partners to explain the value of the software product, translating customer/business requirements and industry trends into architecture, and representing the IMS product suite and WebSphere Application Server. The technical knowledge required for this role: Web Services, all facets of J2EE -including application server internals, databases, SIP, IMS network technology, telecom networks, and design of highly available and scalable distributed systems. Business knowledge required for this role: interfacing with customers, an ability to understand customer requirements and translate into implementation architecture, managing customer situations, and understanding industry trends. (Sept 2005 – Aug 2007).

Additional Responsibilities and Accomplishments:

• Coordinating architecture and development across IBM’s IMS product portfolio.
• Pioneering and driving Web 2.0 business & technical strategy across the telecommunications sector and IMS product set.

SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT and DEV LEAD

IBM Software Group - Communications Sector Industry Solutions (Austin, TX)

Responsibilities were twofold: 1) architecture, development, and coordination of multi-site development for SIP protocol support within the WebSphere Application Server, and 2) Led a small development working directly with telecom customers to implement a portfolio solution surrounding mobile content deliver and Television over IP (IPTV). Solutions combined IBM software group portfolio products in a novel way to meet customer requirements and design had to incorporate elements of product, software group, and sales strategies. Responsibilities included working with customers to elicit requirements and shape design, creating solution reference architectures, acting Acted as the IBM software group liaison for the Open Communications Architecture Forum, a standards group focused on creating an open operating platform for NGN telecommunications services. (May 2004 – Sept 2005).

SOFTWARE ENGINEER

IBM Software Group - Application Integration Middleware (Austin, TX)

WebSphere Business Integration is a suite of middleware aimed at automating enterprise business processes and facilitating communication between disparate applications. Our team focused on developing industry-specific content for the WebSphere Business Integration portfolio for the Energy and Utilities industry. Success of this project led to other industries, such as finance and telecom. Our team focused on creating a new rapid-development connectivity framework, a set of industry-specific adapters to enable best-of-breed connectivity, and population of industry process models and content. Provided experience with WebSphere Application Developer, MQseries, J2EE and XML technologies, and Crossworlds. Responsibilities included design of adapter connectivity framework and application architecture, implementation of design, management and guidance of adapter development teams, working closely with customers to integrate foreign applications, assisting in ISV negotiations, assessing industry trends and potential business value. (August 2002 – April 2004).

Additional Projects as a Software Engineer

• Helped found the Emerging Business and Technology Innovation group within IBM, targeted at creating an environment for idea exchange among new hire IBM employees, which became a cross-site, corporate-sponsored group.
• Developed a new file system technology: A content addressable, archival storage system. A prototype has been implemented as part of the Linux kernel. The file system contains unique properties that target the needs of IBM's e-Business-on-Demand initiative

PATENTS

Attained 11th level invention plateau at IBM (45 disclosures filed with the patent office - for patents issued so far, click here) in the following areas:

• Telephony Systems
• Network Security and Intrusion
• Networking
• Business Integration
• User Interfaces
• File Systems and Network Storage

Awarded IBM Master Inventor status for contributions to the IBM IP portfolio and patent process leadership.

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN (Austin, TX)

M.Sc in Computer Science as of Dec 2006. GPA: 3.66. Completed education part-time while working full time with full work responsibilities. Coursework emphasized distributed computing systems, networking, fault tolerance, databases, and protocol design.

TUFTS UNVIVERSITY (Medford, MA)

Summa Cum Laude B.Sc in Electrical Engineering as of May 2002. GPA: 3.83. Did extensive coursework in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Digital and Analog circuit design. On the Dean's List for all semesters. Member of the Golden Key and Tau Beta Pi honors society. Received research grants from USENIX in 1999 & 2000 to develop a new type of networking monitoring software (Peep: the network auralizer). Received the following academic rewards: the Dean's Prize for distinguished academic achievement (1999), the de Florez Prize in Human Engineering Scholarship (April 2001), and the Benjamin Brown Scholarship (April 2002) (please see: http://www.ase.tufts.edu/bulletin/scholarships.html).

Lower Canada College (Montreal, QC)

Graduated with Highest Honors and as an AP Scholar with Honor. Studied within LCC's science and mathematics program. Won Joston's Award for Academic Excellence. Received certificate for bilingual excellence in French and English from the government of Quebec.

SKILLS

Here are some of the usual highlights that people ask about:

Some Technology Highlights

• J2EE technologies and application server internals
• XML, Web Services including SOAP, REST
• AJAX related technologies like DOJO, dynamic HTML & CSS, and mashup infrastructure
• SIP protocol and J2EE application server integration
• Low-latency distributed systems

Programming Languages

I have programmed in many different languages over the years. Here's a list of my most current fluent programming languages:

• Java
• Python
• C
• Perl

Spoken Languages

• Bilingual abilities in French
• Intermediate ability in Spanish
• Intermediate ability in Hebrew
• Basic ability in Mandarin

OTHER INTERESTS

Mostly musical: I'm an avid guitar player: Jazz, Rock, Blues. Have gigging experience. Played in a band for several years. Did some vocal training.