BIOGRAPHY of David Retz
Dr. David Retz has over forty years experience in the area of operating systems, software development, real-time systems, teaching, writing, Internet and web development. David is an expert in not only the plethora of web technologies, but also their relevance to customer applications. As part of his graduate studies, David was one of the initial developers of ARPANET and the DARPA Packet Radio Network, which were the testing ground for what we now know as "Internet". His career started at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he was the UCSB liason for development of the ARPANET protocols, and helped develop the first IBM mainframe interface (and associated software) to talk to ARPANET in the late '60s.
He was an instructor for IBM for over 13 years as a "consultant" - which was
unusual, since IBM only hired consultants on a short-term basis. He was
responsible for teaching IBM development lab personnel the basics of data
communication programming, and, as the nascent Internet took off, the
fundamentals of Network protocols and TCP/IP.
He was the founder of an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") called "SYV.COM" in the
mid-'90s, providing commercial dial-up access to the Internet as well as
web hosting for the local area of the "Santa Ynez Valley" (SYV), on the central
coast of California. As the major telco companies took over the "access" side of
the Internet in 2004, he retained the web hosting portion of the business
which is still offered by Comware International, Inc.
His years of experience in software design and implementation include the
development of several operating systems and application development
platforms.
Currently, he applies this to development of database-driven websites -
those that are able to be managed by their owners through web-based content
management.
David Retz lives in the Santa Ynez Valley, California - part of Santa Barbara County - and has two daughters (Jennifer and Sarah) and eight grandchildren (Sarah, Zachary, Jacob, Austin, Emily, Evan, Lily, and Liam). Dave is a licensed pilot, an emergency ham Radio operator (KK6NA), enjoys attempting to play the piano and guitar, still a Bob Dylan fan, and forever learning German.
More Details - an in-depth BIO
In Memoriam
Dr. John Landry - a fellow student, friend, and mentor (d 1992)David (and Lynn) Angell - screenwriter, fellow Pasadena residents
passengers on American 11 on September 11, 2001. (d 2001)
Bob Ploger - co-worker, engineer, competitor, friend
passenger on American 77 on September 11, 2001 (the Pentagon). (d 2001)
PUBLICATIONS
- "Operating System Design Considerations for the Packet-Switching Environment", presented at the National Computer Conference, AFIPS, 1973.
- "Structure of the ELF Operating System", presented at the National Computer Conference, AFIPS, 1974.
- "TCP/IP: The DARPA Suite Marches into the Business World", Data Communications (McGraw-Hill), November, 1987.
- "APPC Gateways: LAN and Host become Peers", LAN Technology, September, 1989.
- "Emulation Terminals", European Government Journal, Vol 3, No. 3, Summer of 1995.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. Electrical Engineering/Computer Science, 1972, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- M.S. Electrical Engineering, 1970, University of California, Santa Barbara
- M.A. Chemistry, 1969, University of California, Santa Barbara
- B.S. Chemistry, 1967, Florida Atlantic University
Solvang, CA 93463
805-686-1262
E-Mail: Comware International Product Inquiry