IT Resume

Wayne R. Norton
Nashville, TN 37208
waynenortonmusic@gmail.com

Work Experience

I have been working professionally with digital imaging and IT technology for over 20 years. My last full-time positions have been directly involved with high-resolution imaging, image processing and data handling - most recently, genomic-based data acquired with super-high definition, ultra-low noise camera systems similar to that on the Hubble Telescope. I have worked extensively with all facets of digital imaging and computer systems including HPC clusters and cloud computing. I am currently operating as an independent imaging consultant.

Apr. 2011 - present
Independent Imaging Consultant
Responsibilities:

To provide Digital Imaging Technical services for on-location production, post production and image-management data systems. Creator of hdcinematics.com and the Convert V4 next-generation of video tools, I also code custom applications geared toward high-volume data transfers and automation.

Sept. 2002 - Apr. 2011 - 454 Life Sciences / Roche Diagnostics
IT Key Account Manager
Responsibilities:

To provide a liaison between R&D science and IT - to translate the needs of the development community into IT-supplied resources. This position required understanding of IT principals, upcoming instrument upgrades and signal/image processing advancements. Responsible for ensuring that departments interacting with IT be aware of alternatives, limitations and costs involved in IT-provided solutions.

IT Manager Linux Group
Responsibilities:

Oversee all Linux operations and provide resources to both R&D and production. Provide support for automated document-delivery systems and project-specific resources.

Systems Engineer
Responsibilities:

Design, create and implement automated genome data handling systems. Full time web-based code development using Perl and Linux shell to automate data delivery, image and signal processing and image storage, tracking and archiving.

Instrument Support Specialist
Responsibilities:

Provide server, software and camera tech support for new customers purchasing the (newly released) 454 Genome Sequencing Instrument. Travel to customer locations to install new instruments and to run first sequencing tests on-site for benchmarking. Provided telephone and email support.

Network Administrator
Responsibilities:

Help setup internal networks for (then start-up company) 454 in support of development of a novel genome sequencing system. Build, implement and maintain compute clusters and document delivery systems. Engineer backup systems to support Linux-based sequencer systems during sequencer design. Become familiar with sequencing science to help support sequencer design.

Oct. 1997 - Jun. 2002 MicroPatent LLC East Haven, CT
Director of Operations
Responsibilities:

Manage Technical Support, Operations, Custom Products and Production (15 direct reports). Oversee system design and engineering. Liaison between IT and Development departments. Project management. Documentation management. Audits and system security.

Operations Manager
Responsibilities:

Oversee all IT operations throughout the company including purchasing. Engineer and implement mirror-site. Provide support for online web services. Provide and maintain custom networking solutions including T-1 & T-3 service lines.

System Administrator
Responsibilities:

Maintain and manage over 60 media jukeboxes containing mission critical image data. Maintain Sparc image servers and hardware. Update web with new data and images. Provide hardware support for Sparc and NT servers. Manage server backups. Provide 7x24 support for web related equipment. Administer Unix user accounts and resources. Produce ksh and other scripts for process automation. Remotely administer a Unix-based image delivery system at Nerac, a NASA-born information service.

1996-1997 Computer Hospital West Haven, CT
System Administrator
Responsibilities:

Administration and upkeep of Sparc servers, Novell servers, and NT servers. Engineering of network solutions for a variety of client companies. 7x24 hour operation of approx. 25 virtual domains. Internal network design, implementation and maintenance. T-1 connections, frame-relay and ISDN connections. 7x24 operation of email services. Administer user accounts and resources.

1995-1996 Memphis, TN
Independent Consultant / Programmer

1994-1995 Digital Darkroom - Mall of Memphis, Memphis, TN
Digital Imaging Artist
Responsibilities:

Operate a novel digital photography business in the Mall of Memphis. Provided blue-screen based photo sessions and composites of exotic backgrounds. Also provided digital image retouching and photo restorations as well as custom CD-Rom recording (a new technology then!). Was one of the first such efforts - based on Kodak dye-sublimation printing and the DSC-420 Nikon digital camera system. Company met with limited success due to problems with the beta Kodak imaging system, however it did prove the point that a digital photography workflow could effectively work in place of film.

Technical Skills

My work has always been image-based and platform agnostic. I use whatever tools make the most sense for the job and do not adhere to any one operating system or technology to get it done.

Technologies Engaged

• Intel CUDA implementation and programming
• Infiniband systems - RDMA, GPFS, IP over IB - Mellanox
• DDN Storage systems construction and management
• HPC cluster engineering, construction and management
• Cloud systems engineering and management
• Storage system engineering and automation
• Signal and image processing
• Document delivery, archiving and restoration
• Network design and traffic control
• Extensive knowledge of hardware systems
• Extensive knowledge of systems testing

Operating Systems

• Windows from 3.1 to Windows 8 & Windows 2008 Server x64
• RedHat Linux, Slackware, Debian
• Sun Solaris for Sparc and Intel
• Mac OSX to Lion
• Novell 3.x & 4.x

Storage

• JBOD arrays (in the Terabytes of storage range)
• EMC Storage Systems
• NetApp Storage Systems
• LTO-3&4, AIT-3, DLT, 8 & 4 mm Tape Systems
• StorageTek Tape Libraries
• CD ROM jukeboxes – including NSM and Luminex 100 cd jukes
• UPS units and power subsystems
• A5000/A5200/D1000 series Sun arrays
• All RAID levels

Networking

• TCP/IP and NetBEUI network discovery & mapping
• Routing – static & dynamic - local & remote
• Design, implementations and troubleshooting
• VPN networks
• Proxy services
• Subnet design and implementations
• Switch and router monitoring and administration

Programming / Scripting

• Linux / Unix shell – Perl - html
• C, Visual C#, Visual Basic

Accomplishments

Infiniband, GPFS and DDN storage - independent contractor

Designed, implemented and extensively tested an ultra-high performance system for passing genomic image data directly from capture chip to a super-dense DDN storage device running the GPFS filesystem over Infiniband. The data captured from the chip was too large and the algorithms too CPU-intensive to allow image-processing on the capture instrument, so processing was carried out on external systems employing up to 160 CPU cores. The system was designed to support several capture systems concurrently, and the data made immediately available for down-stream analysis by a team of developers and scientists.

DNA Sequencing in the Cloud - 454 Life Sciences / Roche Diagnostics

As genomic research at 454 progressed it became clear that periodic development cycles would demand compute power above-and-beyond existing production resources - without exception. Basically this meant that a huge investment would be made to add more servers (now cluster nodes) and more storage each development cycle to accommodate many-times-enlarged datasets being generated by sequencer hardware upgrades and new sequencing algorithms (454's core business) developed. After further investigation I found that resource utilization dropped off drastically at the completion of each dev cycle and the adoption of new software into the production systems. Since the main workload was handled by compute clusters this meant that nodes would sit idle for months until the next dev push - and yet still fall short as resources for the next dev cycle!

After working with the R&D team and key IT personnel I was able to push peak development testing into the cloud infrastructure provided by Penguin On Demand (POD) for the additional heavy processing needs. The development testing was completed on time and with minimal investment, the IT department did not have to scramble to implement new hardware and development could ramp up resources if needed. Other R&D developers adopted use of the same cloud infrastructure and a web-based automated interface was setup, capable of using internal or cloud resources transparently.

Systems without user logins - 454

When I joined 454 it was more a concept than a product. As datasets grew and more users started working with Linux-based compute resources there arose problems with managing those resources and allowing access to as many users as possible. Manual operations became a nightmare for the researchers - not being familiar with Linux to begin with they quickly became overwhelmed in the data handling. As this also caused me a lot of headaches with crashing systems and disappearing data I realized that automation of the image and signal processing routines would eliminate the user handling problems (and keep the users out of the Linux systems!). I worked with a web developer to provide the researchers with a fully-functional and closed system that gave them access to all of the data they ever needed without accessing a single Linux system. This was a huge undertaking which became the backbone system for all of 454 and is still under continuous development at the time of this writing.

Build a better cluster - recycling - 454

As the 454 Genome Sequencer developed and datasets grew it was soon too much for the one existing HPC cluster to handle in a reasonable time. As start-up money was tight it would have been a burden to purchase another HPC cluster. At the same time, original Linux servers used in the prototype sequencers were replaced with newer units that provided faster processing of the genomic data. I was able to take those old pizza-box servers and turned them into a SunGrid cluster of 1 head node and 4 slaves. Once it was tested it proved to be considerably faster than the 10 node HP cluster we had purchased a couple of years earlier!

This cluster took over the brunt of signal and image processing and ran for about 5 years before it was retired.

IT in the Laboratory - learning to clone - 454

As 454 was still developing their instrument when I joined there was a unique opportunity for me to work in the lab. I spent time in R&D learning the sequencing process and became a rig runner to help in supporting the new instrument when released as well as to increase my personal knowledge. This also gave me a great deal of insight into what the scientific community needed from an IT resource perspective and helped me incorporate the concept of "disposable" data - data that can be discarded after initial processing but can be regenerated from original images on demand. As long as the original images are retained the subsequent datasets can be recreated. After all, one of the requirements of IT was to keep every scrap of genomic data permanently available. At over a Terabyte of data generated per day that quickly became a tall order!

In the process I learned how to sequence genomes and how to clone bacteria. I was also privileged to setup and sequence on 454 instruments at Cold Spring Harbor for 3 annual symposiums and worked extensively with the 454 team conducting the sequencer training.

1790.com - marriage of Windows NT to Unix - MicroPatent

MicroPatent purchased a competitor site from Seattle and wanted to keep their websites up-and-running as additional revenue sources. My job was to bring nearly 100 Windows NT-based servers to CT and marry them to an existing Unix document delivery system. This was all to be done without utilizing PC-based NFS systems, (which had already proven problematic). It was my decision to opt for PCNetLink, the Sun solution to Windows NT domains. This allowed me to build a new NT domain on a Unix-based Sparc server, and then provide access to NT through NetBEUI level drive sharing, and kept NFS off of the Sparcs. The Unix system only needed to provide files to a Unix filesystem, while Windows machines accessed the prepared files through the drive mappings.

Terabyte Servers & Jukebox Migrations - MicroPatent

As patent and trademark image collections became more popular, (system demand and loads had increased steadily for several years), CD-ROM jukebox technology became problematic. Hardware took a beating, jukeboxes were failing, and a new solution for storing the almost 10 Terabytes of images online was needed. By this time, large hard disks were becoming available and much more attractive for gang storage. Faster, smaller footprint to data storage ratio, faster access and less management overhead were very desirable features, and pushed us to develop Terabyte severs – Unix-based, multi-disc, (JBOD arrays) systems to handle nothing but image storage. My task was to build and test multi-terabyte systems based on Sun Ultra5 workstations. This required custom kernel development and subsequent management.
The second part of the exercise was to migrate the CD-ROM contents of the existing jukeboxes to the Terabyte servers. This was gracefully accomplished in about 4 months. The jukeboxes were successfully retired.

100 Disc CD-ROM Production System - MicroPatent

Wrote a production application that would allow the mass burning of CD-ROM's via 100 disc Luminex CD-ROM tower systems. These supported the writing of 4 CD-ROM's concurrently and allowed Production operators to burn a set of 100 discs at a time without intervention. The scripts were all menu-driven and configured via configuration support files.
The software was used in production for over 4 years.

OC3 Fiber Implementation - MicroPatent

Managed the installation of a T-3 optical connection to support a booming web-based business. Worked with all aspects of arranging optical fibre implementation including retirement of older T-1 copper lines, designing network configuration and management of all resources involved. Also performed all router and DNS configurations as well as extensive testing.

Also worked directly with the Bayer Corp. to establish a direct T-1 link to their site in West Haven, CT, USA. Performed all router configuration and testing as well as inbound / outbound security.

Mirror Site - MicroPatent

As demand grew for online intellectual property documents, system loads steadily increased. It was my responsibility to conceive of and implement a mirror system in the D.C. area to provide load balancing. It was also my responsibility to bring in a fractional T-3 service to that location as well as provide routing equipment, firewalls, network connectivity, and location air conditioning systems.