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Jean-Francois "Jeff" Merlet

jeff.merlet@nokia.com

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Strong technology and system architecture background paired with proven success leading small to midsize engineers development teams. Multiple products shipped and deployed successfully up to 2M+ users. Eighteen years experience in R&D, system architecture using object-oriented approach, best of breed blueprints and design patterns, RUP and XP engineering process, and overall engineering management. Technical expertise in performance tuning, database sharding, synchronization and p2p protocols, database and metadata design, cloud computing, comprehensive web services, customizable and extensible server architecture (SOA, WOA, client/server).

SKILLS HIGHLIGHTS

á Strong focus on high-performing, scalable, maintainable, customizable and extensible architecture in software development

á Eighteen years combined experience in system architecture, development and engineering management

á Management of geographically distributed teams of senior individual contributors and development teams of up to 40 engineers

á Proven track record of combining strong technical leadership with business demands

á Technical expertise with p2p architecture, cloud computing architecture, WOA, SOA, 2-tier Oracle-based client/server

á Domain expertise with synchronization, mobile email, web 2+, p2p, browsing, detection and unified communication

TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS

á Protocols: OMA DS, OMA DM, OMA CP, Jabber, XMPP, SMPP, SNMP, POP, IMAP, P-IMAP

á Web applications technologies: Servlet, J2EE with EJB, JMS, PHP, XML, Schemas, XSLT, REST, SOAP

á Client technologies: Symbian, J2ME, Windows Mobile, Windows C++, J2SE, JSP, PHP, CSS, XHTML, AJAX

á Database technologies:  Oracle, PL/SQL, BerkeleyDB, MySQL, BusinessObjects, JDBC, Hibernate

á Extreme Programming tools: ANT, CruiseControl, JMeter, Subversion, Tinderbox, JUnit, HttpUnit, XMLUnit, DbUnit

EDUCATION

1994                               Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Toulouse I, France

1990                               MS, Computer Science, University of Toulouse III, France

1989                               BS, Computer Science, University of Pau, France

EXPERIENCE

November 2008         Nokia Corporation – Services Unit

to                                     Mountain View, California

Present                          Chief Architect

Nokia Services is responsible of the overall Nokia services offering around Ovi.com and carrier tailored mobile solutions.

Current Tasks:

á Architecting and scaling the synchronization services platform to support 50+M users.

 

 

January 2008               Nokia Corporation – Devices Unit

to                                     Mountain View, California

October 2008              Chief Architect

The Nokia Devices unit Architecture team is responsible of the overall Nokia Devices technology, strategy and architecture. Part of the Technology Foresight team.

Major highlights included:

á Initiated the Web OS and Universal Synchronization recommendations with their associated architectures

á Authored a patent on a device setup automation service

Key accomplishments included:

á Performed comprehensive technical assessment of MS Live Mesh and Apple MobileMe synchronization solutions

á Initiated a technology analysis on Nokia vs. Cloud Computing

á Generated an in-depth study of Apple iPhone web technologies

á Lead the team intranet social network site development

 

 

October 2006              Nokia Corporation – Enterprise Mobile Solutions Unit

to                                     Mountain View, California

December 2007         Lead Architect

Nokia Enterprise Mobile Solutions Unit builds and deploys mobile solutions for the enterprise and mobile operator markets. Responsible for all unit product architecture, in particular Intellisync Mobile Suite:

á Suite of mobile applications (email, device management, file and app sync), optimized and secure protocol

á Modular client and server architecture, multi platform clients (S60, Palm, Windows Mobile, UIQ, PC)

á Second-ranked mobile email solution with ~ 4M licenses sold

Major highlights included:

á Initiated 3-fold performance improvement, bringing a 3-fold reduction in hosting costs

á Architected new cluster deployment and database sharding, bringing 30% reduction in hosting costs

á Initiated and led platform evolution, starting with common components and web services

á Contributed a major addition to the OMA DS 1.2.1 standard on advanced mobile email capabilities

á Performed comprehensive technical assessment of 2 mobile solutions (mobile email, p2p) and 1 file sharing company for potential acquisition

Key accomplishments included:

á Managed and built from scratch geographically distributed team of senior system architects

á Developed and shared vision while ensuring successful execution

á Led, reviewed and validated all main architecture work (S60, security, server) generated by the team

á Matured the team to creation of high-performing, customizable and extensible framework

á Participated with the team to joint projects on mobile email with Nokia devices teams (S60)

á Architected 2 new components messaging transport and email configuration services (server, web service)

á Represented Nokia to OMA DS standard group


June 2004                     Nokia Corporation – Enterprise Mobile Solutions Unit

to                                     Mountain View, California

September 2006         Lead Architect and Engineering Manager

Nokia Enterprise Mobile Solutions Unit builds and deploys mobile solutions for the enterprise and mobile operator markets, based on the assets acquired from Intellisync in 2006, I joined Intellisync in 2004. The main offerings under my responsibility were:

á SyncML Server and Enterprise Instant Messaging Server and associated Clients

o PIM/Email synchronization, multi protocol supports (OMA DS, CP, DM, DL), scalable server

o MS LCS, IBM Sametime and Jabber support, custom bots, optimized and secure client protocol

o Multi platform clients (C SDK, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, J2ME, Blackberry)

Major highlights included:

á Helped building from scratch a geographically distributed team of 40 software and QA engineers

á Architected and led the SyncML server 15-fold performance improvement to reduce hosting cost

á Led the SyncML Server deployment to a major Japanese mobile operator, 0 to 2M+ subscribers in 1 year

á Reduced by 25% the number of bugs by introducing continuous build, unit and integration testing

á Performed technical assessment of 4 synchronization and 1 IM overseas companies for potential acquisition

Key accomplishments included:

á Managed (incl. dotted line) geographically distributed development and QA teams (US, Romania)

á Re-organized client and server teams, and technical leads responsibilities to adapt to business changes

á Identified and matured team technical leaders

á Created product vision and key requirements, and advocated server benefits across departments

á Architected new database cluster, web services redesign and pluggable services framework 

á Architected platform evolution, including extensible messaging, DM integration, email synchronization

á Participated in the high level design of all client software

á Led the creation of the server performance lab, including design of the performance testing framework

á Implemented web services integration testing framework based on JUnit, HttpUnit, XMLUnit and DbUnit

Additional responsibilities included OMA DS Nokia lead delegate, managing team budget, coordinating with overseas management, participating in RFP proposals and pre-sales, and working closely with mobile operators.

October 2002              VerdiSoft Corporation – acquired by Yahoo in 2005

to                                     Palo Alto, California

May 2004                     Lead Architect and Engineering Manager

VerdiSoft built and deployed Digital Mobility Solution for the broadband and mobile operator markets. The solution is now at the core of Yahoo Go Mobile. The main offering under my responsibility was the file sharing solution which includes the following key features:

á P2P (desktop, mobile) architecture based on a centralized metadata and user management server

á Metadata synchronization based on SyncML and REST, file synchronization based on Jabber

á Automatic file change and metadata collection and synchronization, smart file transcoding

á Buddy sharing, support of bookmark, album and play list synchronization/conversion

Major highlights included:

á Innovated the hybrid P2P/centralized metadata architecture approach

á Co-authored patent ÒSystem and method for sharing objects among two or more electronic devicesÓ

á Researched the different P2P protocols, architectures and key market players

á Implemented 95% of the J2EE server code, including P2P module, with a 90% JUnit coverage

Key accomplishments included:

á Co-created product vision and key requirements

á Built up and managed client and server development teams

á Architected and designed the server, P2P architecture and clients (PC, Windows Mobile, Symbian, J2ME)

á Designed the REST based metadata synchronization protocol

á Introduced XP process, with continuous system build and unit testing to meet aggressive business needs

á Managed on-site J2ME development and overseas development of Symbian and Windows Mobile clients

Additional responsibilities included interfacing with the overseas QA testing, participating in RFP proposals and pre-sales, and participating in architecture and design workshops of other company products.


May 2000                     Pumatech – renamed Intellisync in 2004

to                                     Santa Cruz, California

September 2002         Lead Architect and Engineering Manager

Pumatech built and deployed mobile solutions for the consumer and web portal markets. The main offerings under my responsibility were:

á Sync-it, a SyncML synchronization server

á Mind-it, a web change detection and notification web application server

á Browse-it, a mobile web browser (Windows Mobile, Palm) based on a web accelerator server

Major highlights included:

á Managed a total of 10 successful major releases in 1 year, including Japanese releases

á Reduced time-to-market for releases by 50% while adding major features

á Reduced the number of bugs created in development by more than 80%

á Led the porting in 1 month of the Windows-based SyncML gateway to a scalable carrier-class Unix server

á Transformed a team of independent senior software engineers into an interdependent team with team leaders

Key accomplishments included:

á Managed and built up team of 10 software engineers as well as managed QA and documentation

á Introduced incremental and iterative development processes, maximizing efficiency and time to market

á Introduced and managed the creation of the SaaS hosted version

á Architected and implemented new unified and consolidated database schema for the 3 server products

á Architected latest notification features: VoiceXML, IM based on Jabber, SMS and Real Time Alert

á Architected Mind-it web services layer and all XML/XSLT additions to enhance customizability

á Architected next generation unified platform based on J2EE technologies (JAAS, JMS, JMX, etc.)

á Architected and co-implemented the team document repository based on XML, XSLT and DocBook.

á Architected and managed the creation of the server performance lab

Additional responsibilities included managing team budget, interfacing with product management, business development, and operations, presenting products to Fortune 500 companies, acting as company representative at the WAP-Forum, OMA DS and OMA DM committees, and carried out R&D on J2ME/MIDlet.

July 1999                      Business Document

to                                     New York, New York

April 2000                    North America Technical Director

Business Document, a French company headquartered in Paris, built and deployed solutions focusing on content integration publishing. The main offering was Edinat, a dynamic document production solution.

Key accomplishments included:

á Served as primary technical interface with all major customers

á Provided technical leadership for sales engineer teams

á Interfaced with product management to define North America-specific product features

á Interfaced with business development for all North American business activity

á Managed technical partnerships with partners and distributors

Additional responsibilities included participation in architecture and design, using UML, of next generation product, participation in development of Edi-Web using J2EE and XML technologies.


July 1998                      JPSI

to                                     Noordwijk, The Netherlands

June 1999                     Technical Director

JPSI is a professional services company specializing in delivering and managing client/server solutions for the European Space Agency.

Key accomplishments included:

á Managed successful deployment of new financial MIS for the ISS program in less than 3 months

á Architected financial MIS metadata repository based on Business Objects analytics tools

á Managed financial MIS data warehouse implementation and fine tuned Oracle database

á Managed international financial MIS support team composed of project controllers, DBA, etc.

á Interfaced with product management to define next generation financial MIS key features

á Architected, using UML, next generation financial MIS overall web-based system

á Designed and implemented next generation financial MIS Oracle database schema

May 1994                     Comtech Software

to                                     Toulouse, France

June 1998                     Engineering Manager

Comtech Software is a professional services company specializing in delivering client/server solutions, mainly to the space industry.

Key accomplishments included:

á Managed projects and all contributing development teams

á Served as primary interface with major customers during the lifecycle of projects, including:

o European Space Agency for the IPCDB project (financial MIS of the ISS program)

o CNES, the French space agency, for the SGTI project (technical MIS of the ARIANE 5 launcher)

o GEC Alsthom Railway for the Hong Kong subway project

á Architected and designed, using OMT and UML, the different client/server (2-tiers and n-tiers) projects

á Designed and implemented Oracle and Ingres database schemas and procedures

á Designed and implemented the metadata repository and the data warehouse using Business Objects

á Created and led the internal research lab focusing on the latest technologies

Additional responsibilities included participation in the generation of processes and procedures for the ISO 9001 certification, evaluation of new technologies and evangelization of ideal development principles.

October 1991              Alcatel, URACOM R&D Lab – Multimedia Database Group

to                                     Toulouse, France

April 1994                    Research Scientist

á Carried out research concerning object oriented design methods, multimedia database modeling, dynamic hypermedia and intelligent interface

á Created and taught courses on object oriented design to graduate students

September 1990         University of Toulouse

to                                     Toulouse, France

September 1991         System Engineer

á Managed the Oracle database of the graduate research lab and the undergraduate PC network.

TRAINING

2006                               10 day course on Technology Management, Nokia

2001                               5 day course on J2EE, Learning Tree

1997                               3 day course on CORBA, Valtech

PUBLICATIONS

1993 to 1996                14 publications in French and International conferences on:

                                               - Object oriented design of hypermedia and multimedia information systems

                                               - Human computer interaction through a dynamic hypermedia

                                               - Computer aided software engineering tools

                                               - Modeling of complex objects in multimedia databases