About Me (Fred Black)
Fred Black graduated from Elon College in Elon College, NC in 1985 with a degree in Computer Science.
He has worked for the following corporations:
- Batanga.com - a major Internet based radio station as a senior software engineer specializing in audio streaming infrastructure.
- 3M (formally Guardianet Systems, Inc) in Greensboro, NC. as a senior software engineer responsible for web server
infrastructure, network analysis and creation of software tools to analyze internet traffic efficiency from customer
locations back to the Guardianet web servers. The primary product, now called PAMS is an Internet content filtering
and access management application.
- Renaissance Worldwide as a Senior Consultant in their Network Solutions Consulting Practice.
- Datanet Services, Inc (DSi) as Network Engineer Manager.
- Landmark Community Interests as the Directory of Technology.
- NetworkMCI Digital Imaging as Manager of Internal Systems and Support.
- Image Technology as Technical Support Manager.
Some Key Career Accomplishments
For an international management skills and leadership training institute, performed analysis of the local area network and technical management of the migration process from a shared 10Mb environment to a campus wide Gb Ethernet backbone environment with switched 10/100Mb to the desktop. This project utilized some of the first shipping Gb products on the market. The final result of the project entailed nine 46Gb chassis based Ethernet switches. During the coarse of the implementation process, and working with engineers from the manufacturer, Mr. Black played an important roll in identifying a manufacturing defect in the chipset used for the 10/100Mb ports. This problem was causing a significant number of dropped packets, resulting in the inability for large numbers of end-users to access the network. By working cooperatively with the manufacturer to create a software-based work-a-around to the problem, end-user interruptions were kept at a minimum. Mr. Black maintained ongoing contact with the manufacturer's level 4 engineers and after different physical chips were developed to correct the problem, coordinated, with the manufacturer, the replacement of all defective modules at no cost and with no downtime to the customer.
Designed LAN/WAN/Voice network for a manufacturing company with three locations, migrating from an old terminal based production management system to a new PC based Client/Server system. Interviewed and gathered information from the customer, software vendors, and manufacturers of the various components, to develop a detailed and comprehensive needs analysis and solution path. Analyzed call patterns between locations during previous months and provided cost justification to install voice-over-frame router technology. Designed solution for fail-over servers and backup connectivity between sites. Created timeline for the project and managed the installation/configuration process.
For network system integrator, designed a LAN/WAN Performance Analysis Snapshot product service offering. Evaluated and tested various network tools such as discovery agents, protocol analyzers, RMON analyzers, trending analysis software, and switch analyzers. From this analysis, created separate standard offering for LANs and WANs. This included a detailed manual for the network engineer to follow and a sample deliverable product for the sales staff to utilize in presale visits with prospective customers.
For the North American Offices and Showroom of an Italian furniture company, worked with the IT Staff during move from existing offices/showroom to new offices/showroom. In addition to the move, the server platform and OS was to be upgraded. This move occurred under extremely tight time constraints with no margin for missed deadlines. Provided experience and expertise in all aspects of the new building project including data and voice cabling, active network hardware, redundancy, power requirements, MDF and IDF locations, remote access and VPN recommendations. Provided timeline details for the physical movement of all servers and computers from the old building to the new building. Created requirements and sequence procedures for establishing network connectivity to end-users requiring high-availability during the construction process as the new building was occupied while still under construction on several floors. All deadlines were met at all phases of the project.
For National portrait photography studio specializing in church/family portraits, designed and managed a proprietary digital photography software product. Worked with internal programmers, vendors and suppliers to design and manage the creation and implementation of a portable, portrait photography studio that utilized custom hardware and proprietary software to synchronize the simultaneous capture of both traditional film and digital images. This system allowed the photographer to quickly, in real-time, select the best shots and discard the inferior ones. A digital, photo quality set of proofs were immediately printed for use in selling portrait packages. Tested and implemented new hardware and software upgrades to the system. Conceptualized and created automatic setup routine to optimize color quality via software control. Managed the creation and maintenance of user documentation. Managed all product rollout to the field. Designed and managed help desk to support photographers.
For Christian community oriented software development company, key member of technical design team on a large project developing an Internet security and content filtering product for families. Designed Client/Server based content filtering system that worked in conjunction with a firewall type product to provide a low maintenance client that would allow parents to select from predefined categories and lists, or create their own lists, to allow or disallow access to certain Internet sites. Worked with a university project developing crawler and spider technology to generate "good" lists and "bad" lists of Internet sites based on various input data, and with a third-party provider of databases of categorized web sites to integrate these products into the content filtering solution. Served as primary liaison between programmers and vendors during product development.
For international telephone company, had a leadership role in the design of software and procedural implementation of a PC based digital photo ID card system used at college campuses as an ID card, meal card, dorm key, and long distance calling card. Instrumental in the setup and management of traveling carding teams, these teams would arrive at a university, setup a small network, and digitally photograph all students and produce the ID card; the photography and card printing would all take place within 4 to 5 minutes. Worked with the IT staff at the universities to integrate the ID card with their existing bar code readers and magnetic stripe readers. Designed, implemented, and managed help desk to support university and college accounts nationally.
For publisher of database driven page layout software, designed and implemented a system for the newspaper real estate market. This system was a Client/Server based system that served as a central information database. An order entry front end was designed that allowed phone operators to enter ad text once and select a product code that would populate the customers choice of classified ads, photo ads, telephone key-touch "real talk" system, or one of several combination packages. Import/Export specifications were developed and routines designed to move this information in and out of the appropriate proprietary newspaper or thrid party system. Managed and implemented, on-site, the installation of the system. The first customer to utilize this system realized a 50% increase in revenue within the first four months of use.
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