Costas Kotzabassis, Ph.D.

 

summary

 

Professional having over twenty years of experience in computer software and hardware, managing IT, specifying, designing, implementing, deploying, documenting and supporting client/server and stand-alone computer solutions, including seven years of experience with the software and hardware of real-time data acquisition embedded systems. Management experience on IT Departments and large scale projects. Technical experience includes GIS solutions and implementations, web-based and e-commerce applications, scientific applications, enterprise workload scheduling, engineering design and simulation, enterprise database applications, rule-based Expert Systems, object-oriented programming, embedded systems for data acquisition and control, device drivers, software/hardware interfaces, and resource management. Expertise in various programming languages, protocols and client/server architectures. As IT manager and leading technical expert I have spearheaded new product development and taken several major hardware and software projects into a full life cycle. I have served in the capacity of Research Associate, Lecturer, Adjunct Faculty, Extension Associate, Senior Applications Engineer, Team Leader, Manager of R&D for Open Systems, Senior Consultant, Technology Architect, Director of Development and Sole Proprietor/Consultant. Member of Professional Associations and Member or Officer of Technical Committees.

 

operating systems

 

MS-Windows (9x, NT {3.51, 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003}), UNIX (SVR4 compliant, AIX, HP-UNIX, SCO, Unisys, SunOS, Linux/Red Hat), VMS (5.x).

 

technologies/protocols

 

ArcSDE, ArcObjects/MapObjects (ESRI), .Net Framework, DCOM (ActiveX, OLE, COM+), NT Services, XML, MS .Net, Data Access (ADO.Net, ADO, OLE DB, SQLDMO), TCP/IP and Sockets, Collaboration (MAPI, NetMeeting, ADSI), TAPI (2.2, 3.0, NEC)

 

programming languages

 

.Net Visual Studio 2005 (Visual Basic, C#, ASP), Visual Studio 6 (Visual Basic, Visual C/C++ {ATL & MFC}, Visual InterDev, Visual J++), VBA, Java 2 {SDK, J2EE, J2ME}, ANSI C, Perl 5, SQL, ASP, HTML, VBScript, JavaScript, XML/XSL, Assembly (Intel 80x86; Motorola 680x/680x0; Zilog Z80), Artificial Intelligence (LISP; Prolog; OPS-5), Expert System Shells (KnowledgeCraft, Personal Consultant),  Simulation (CSMP; GPSS; SLAM II; SIMAN), Other.

 

applications

 

ArcGIS 8.x/9.x, ArcView/ArcInfo, ArcIMS, CAD (AutoCAD; Microstation), Microsoft Office Professional/Project/Visio Enterprise Architect, Rational Rose, Databases (SQL Server; Oracle; etc.), RoboHelp Office 9, InstallShield, Other.

 

miscellaneous

 

References, Theses, Professional Affiliations and Achievements, Licenses and Certificates, International Conferences, Technical Papers and other Publications, extracurricular activities and community leadership positions,  are available upon request..

 

Languages

 

English, Hellenic, Portuguese.

 

Education

 

1991                  Texas A&M University          College Station, TX, USA

n     Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Engineering Department

n     Minor: Computer Science.

 

 

1986                  University of Alberta                   Edmonton, AB, CND

n    M.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Engineering Department

n    Minor: Electrical & Computer Engineering.

 

 

1982                  Agricultural University of Athens                Athens, GR

n     B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Engineering and Soil Reclamation Dept.

 

Experience

 

2002-                North Harris Montgomery Community College                Houston, TX

Adjunct Faculty

·        Teaching Computer Science and Information Technology classes at Cy-Fair campus (VB Programming, Introduction to Computer Programming, Introduction to Computers, Operating Systems, etc.)

 

 

1994-                 Business Industrial & Technical Software                         Houston, TX

Owner & Technology Architect

·        Business Development and Technology.

·        Expert technology Architect with partner consulting corporations on joint projects.

·        Blue Sky Development, Inc. Conversion of CAD AlignDB into ArcGIS 8.x, using VBA and ArcObjects. Back-end was an Access database through DAO. Design application to resemble CAD product work flow.

·        Health Science Center of the University of Texas at Houston. Phase II of Food Intake Analysis System for the Access project. Development of VB6 COM components for advanced integrated search and field data smart integration/merging/synchronization. Development of installation utility (InstallShield).

·        Ergonomic Transportation Solutions, Inc. Web site development and deployment project. Continuous support on infrastructure needs and operating procedures.

·        Morris Environmental. Project to convert their emergency response reporting forms into the NOAA ICS standard format, using FileMaker Pro 5. Joint project with R7 Solutions.

·        Enron OCC. Project Phase I (Omaha, NE) to develop a NEAX 2400 compliant DCOM client/server application for the emergency management system. Development of the Conversant paging module and Fax processing module through a client/server architecture. Developed file monitoring service. Joint project with R7 Solutions using .Net Enterprise Architect, DCOM and TCP/IP technologies. Enron OCC (Houston/IROC) implementation of the telephony system.

·        Houston First Church of God. Design and installation of a wireless network. Integration with existing LAN. Planning of computer upgrades and new purchases for the school.

·        United Recovery Systems, Inc. Supporting development of SIMON 2 Intelligent Collections System. Large scale project with TB MS SQL Server 2000 database. Development of N-tier application, including UI, business, database and MTS components, using Microsoft Visual Studio 6. TAPI and DCOM implementation of telephone clients and switches, using voice modem and network. VB6 code development on new collections modules. Organized the intranet with a knowledge base, samples, specifications and documentation.

·        ATOFINA. Supporting the LIMS/PHD project for reactor/extruder data processing.

·        Visual Numerics. Participated in the development of add-on Mathematical Libraries for Excel using Visual C++ 1.5. Required good understanding of Algebra and Vector Theory. Used Visual Source Safe for source control. Developed spreadsheets for testing against reference solutions. Provided what-if scenarios for across the range comparisons.

·        Winnersoft, Inc. Participated in the development of a site selection project for US Air Force. Contributed in a client/server application for ENRON, using Visual Basic 3 and Access database. Prepared software installations using InstallShield 2.

 

 

2002-2006          Blue Sky Development, Inc.                                             Houston, TX

Director of Development

·        Leading the design/specification of the core object model for .Net implementation and integration with ArcGIS 9.x Desktop applications and Servers.

·        Leading the design and implementation of the second generation of the core products for ArcGIS, AutoCAD and Microstation using COM architecture, while maintaining the legacy systems throughout their full life cycle.

·        In charge of software development, documentation, testing, licensing, technical support and product architecture, maintaining development standards.

·        Performing data modeling and architecture duties on the BSDI database and integration with pipeline data models (PODS, ISAT, APDM, PPDM) and geospatial data (SDE, Geodatabase) according to defined standards.

·        Interfacing with Engineering and Owner/Operator companies to help them define their work processes for properly utilizing the BSDI tools in their daily operations.

·        In charge of strategic planning for new products and new technologies for integrating processes with enterprise pipeline data management in Oil & Gas industry. Responsible for developing new products for accessing new clients or addressing new needs of existing clients.

·        Defined and enforced internal processes for building and distributing software, maintaining code and tracking customer issues.

·        Involved in new business development in cooperation with the Sales and Marketing Director. Delivered presentations/papers in professional conferences and trade shows.

·        Representing BSDI in the Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS) Technical Committee and the Spatial Integration Workgroup.

Technology Architect

·        In charge of ArcGIS development.

·        Developed pilot processes in ArcGIS AlignDB that were implemented in the corresponding CAD products.

·        Development of a BSDI component object model architecture, to use as a core implementation of non platform-specific functionality between all three products. Developed documentation/specifications for the API. On-going effort using VS6.

·        Development of ISAT/AlignDB integration wizard, for migrating/loading AlignDB data into an ISAT database, using enterprise code lists. VBA in an Access database with linked tables. ElPaso pipeline group.

·        Development of PODS/AlignDB integration wizard component, for maintaining and displaying PODS data through the AlignDB capabilities.

·        Development of ArcIMS solution for displaying alignments using SDE and PODS/ISAT data, or AlignDB data residing in an enterprise RDBMS.

·        Provide ArcGIS expert support to sales. ArcGIS AlignDB demonstration to existing and prospective clients, consultation to provide work-process solutions, and integration planning of AlignDB with work-processes.

·        Developed and maintained installation procedures for all three products. Established automated daily component build procedures.

 

 

1999-2001          Idea Integration, Inc.                                                       Houston, TX

Technology Architect

·        Supporting other GIS projects as technical expert. In charge of an internal ArcSDE component for retrieving complex spatial information (Fetcher). Supporting other Technology Architects (TA) with white papers I developed during previous research.

·        Requirements gathering, component and interface design, and developer supervision for the City of Houston Street Cut Permitting System (SCPS) GIS mission-critical web application using ArcIMS and ArcSDE to a several hundered GB Oracle GIS database. Large scale project. Interfaced with client to define the project requirements. Workflow modeling. Database and utility modeling. NT Service and IIS interface development for geocoding and data mining. Use of ArcInfo, ArcExplorer and ArcSDE for data manipulation. Data migration utility development from XML and CSV to Oracle.

·        Requirements gathering, analysis, design and leading the team for the development of a Food Intake Analysis System for the Health Science Center of the University of Texas at Houston. Database modeling. Developed Object Oriented MDI design, algorithm for the food measurement model, installation, utilities and technical documentation.

·        Initial development of an InstallShield installation for the Tracker product of  Management Controls Inc. Helped client identify the components. Performed the final adjustements.

·        Requirements gathering, designing, engineering modeling, and leading the team for the integration and automation of  a gas utilization Microsoft Excel-based Decision Support System (DSS) for the Nigerian government through Exxon/Mobile.

·        Enforcing development standards and Source Control methodologies. Member of the Technology Architect Council. Member of the internal process panel.

Senior Consultant

·        Providing technical expertise on architecture, database and COM technologies for a web development project to allow the client to implement an on-line documentation repository.

·        Performed requirements gathering, developed specifications and documentation, architected, implemented, tested and deployed a real-time lab analysis transfer and viewing system for the Reactors and Extruders of a petrochemical company. Developed NT service to monitor data distribution, service configuration utility and real-time viewer. Products used VC++ 6 (ATL), VB 6 (ActiveX), Oracle 7.3 and SQL Server 6.5

·        Provided assistance to e-business project at Greensheet to resolve SQL Server 7 database problems, identify solutions to exponential database growth issues, determine data migration issues, correct table specifications, and fine tune stored procedures.

·        Redesigned the City of Houston Wastewater Capacity Reservation System. Converted the application to a client/server architecture using Visual Basic 6, Classes and User Controls, ADO and Oracle 8 RDBMS.

·        Lead with development of an Access client for a graphix company, using linked tables, Queries, Forms and Reports, for information retrieval on a web-enabled application.

Consultant

·        Created an archive on host web server of the functional changes effected on Lattix World, Work, and Wizard, as a guideline for the tests of the Quality Assurance (QA) group.

·        Contributed in the system integration testing of a Lattix system prior to deployment in a client site. Provided technical expertise on deploying and configuring the licensing server, and the Lattix Client installation.

·        Developed and presented to a peer panel a proposed model for an ActiveX specification of an Open Interface for Lattix World and Lattix Work, for a future Lattix redesign.

·        Functioned as the liaison between the development, build and QA groups, for the Lattix suite. Evaluated the basic acceptance criteria of the build to allow an Alpha version. Corrected InstallShield installation issues.

·        Completed and partially redesigned the Lattix Server Wizard for creating, populating and configuring the Lattix SQL Server database using SQLDMO. Reviewed compliance with usability guidilines. Developed console application for daily automated builds, to compile table definition, stored procedure and task SQL scripts, into a single cohesive SQL script. Developed complete documentation regarding the wizard design changes, shortcomings, and recommendations for future work. Identified and resolved problems with component distribution and registration, and interaction with the Lattix Server Wizard. Developed a web-based Lattix installation testing ActiveX Document application.

·        Developed a Secure Licensing Server (SLS) COM component and a test application using a Requirements document to implement Landmark Graphics Corporation’s FLEXlm software licensing standard. Provided a Licensing server to the Lattix development and testing groups. Developed web-based installation. Implemented the security on Lattix Client applications (World and Work) using the SLS component. Developed complete web documentation including the SLS architecture and specifications.

·        Developed recommendation, examples, and documentation, on launching a Windows application from a browser, using Java applets, ActiveX controls, and direct file access.

·        Modified Lattix World and Lattix Work to function with the new interfaces of the SDK components, synchronizing all references and interfaces,resolved several design and implementation flaws causing memory exceptions, streamlined the user interface, created complete documentation for the changes, and recommendations for future work. Cooperated with the SDK developers to identify and correct DCOM interface and registry problems. Defined the standards for testing and accepting the components.

·        Led a development team for creating the Landmark Graphics Corp. Lattix SDK Documentation, web site and sample applications. Reviewed the SDK components for creating the documentation. Created Java and VB scripts for the documentation web site. Developed the VB sample applications for the SDK. Developed the specifications to create comparable VC++ sample applications. Converted the VB applications into Web-based applications. Developed Visual Studio Add-in to automate the IDL-based component documentation. Maintained and enhanced the functionality of a Perl 5 Documentation Extraction (DEX) tool and create RoboHelp TOC from IDL files.

·        Teaching Intermediate and Advanced Visual Basic concepts to other Consultants.

 

 

1994–1999          Software & Management Associates                                 Houston, TX

Manager R&D, Open Systems

·        In charge of the Research & Development Department for the Open Systems, leading the development and enhancement of a large scale project, including client/server suit of applications on Windows, UNIX (IBM,HP,Sun,Linux), VMS/OpenVMS, AS/400 and A-Series, and other technologies for third-party interface. Full product life cycle experience.

·        Development for database independence through ADO, supporting scalable and transactional databases (SQL Server, Oracle and Access). Middle tier COM components implementing business rules.

·        Lead a development team to create an OpCon/xps SNMP agent to interface with HP OpenView. As a result of the project SMA attained certification for the SNMP agent as a Premier Partner.

·        Lead a development team for the redesign of the NT Agent, the stabilization of the A-Series agent, and the redesign of the Scheduling engine. I redesigned the scheduling engine application to function as an NT Service. Redesigned the Service configuration tool to use Named Pipes for service control. Redesigned a socket application as an out-of-process Server for the Scheduling engine. Developed documentation and technical specifications.

·        Developed the R&D Intranet site using FrontPage, to make available technical information to the Development, Quality Assurance and Customer Support Groups. Used Java applets and ActiveX Controls. Established an FTP site to allow custoners to download product upgrades via the Internet.

·        Addressed integration with MVS CA-7 and SAP via external triggers, as well as integration with Unisys SPO, for resource management

·        Completed the development of Version 2 of the OpCon/xps client/server job scheduling product. Migrated from the Intersolv DDTK and drivers to DAO/ODBC and RDBMS drivers. Made user interface changes to improve compliance with Windows Standards. Used Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C/C++ 5.0

·        Responsible for the design guidelines and implementation of Version 3 of the OpCon/xps client/server job scheduling product, using Visual Basic 5.0 and Visual C/C++ 5.0, to implement Services and ActiveX components in support of the MDI applications. Contributed in the design and development of the core classes, ActiveX controls and GUI for the User Interface and Utilities of Version 3 of OpCon/xps.

·        Developed the internal Windows Compliance Standards and programming guidelines for the present and future applications, in coopertation with my staff and other Departments.

·        Writing RFP and technical documentation on design, implementation and systems integration. Assisting my staff with VB, C/C++, ALGOL, etc. technical problems and implementation issues. Resolving Level 2 client problems, either by phone or on site.

·        Addressed special customer requests through the development of small applications.

·        Provided expertise on maintaining the proprietary  UNIX clients on IBM AIX, SCO UNIX, Unisys U6000 and Sun SparcStation.

·        Provided expert technical support to Technology Transfer Group on special configuration problems, that may arise at the customer site during product deployment. Provided expert technical support to sales by addressing potential customer concerns regarding implementation, security, redundancy requirements, recovery procedures, etc.

·        In charge of the Version Control through Visual Source Safe. Acted as System Administrator for the primary Microsoft  domain of the corporate network, assisting the Network Administrator when required. Acting as the System Administrator of the Production domain, which I established to address R&D and testing needs. Acting as the Database Administrator of the SQL Server 6.5 and Oracle 7.3 RDBMS. Acted as administrator for the IBM AIX and SCO UNIX computers, as well as having root privileges on the U6000 and the Sun SparcStation.

Senior Applications Engineer

·        In charge of the development of the User Interface and Utilities component of a job scheduling product in a heterogeneous network environment, using Visual Basic 4.0 EE and Visual C++ 4.x EE. In charge of the development and maintenance of the Database component of the job scheduling product on SQL Server 6.0 or later and Oracle 6 or later.

·        Primarily responsible for the implementation of the ODBC layer to replace the Intersolv DDTK. Responsible for the design, integration and implementation of the CD installation procedure using InstallShield 3.

·        Provided pre-sales and post-sales technical support on Operating System, networking (NetBEUI and TCP/IP), ODBC and applications issues.

·        Provided expertise on scheduling strategies and implementations. Provided maintenance and support to the Scheduling Engine component of the product as well as the Client component (Windows NT/95, UNIX, VMS, OS400, A-Series).

 

addendum

 

Addendum with previous professional experience, achievements, affiliations, extracurricular activities, etc. is available upon request..