Ted Markowitz is a principal with cognosys.net, a firm specializing in using web-based infrastructures and advanced technologies to help companies deliver their critical applications via the Internet. Up through January, 2001, Ted had been Chief Architect at RetailDNA, LLC based in Stamford, CT. RetailDNA is a new venture aimed at bringing innovative revenue opportunities to the retailing industry --- with quick-service restaurants being the initial target --- through the use of advanced technologies like expert systems, machine learning, and genetic-style computing. The firm is a spinoff of Jay Walker's business think-tank, Walker Digital, which has licensed numerous patents to RetailDNA. As Chief Architect Ted worked on creating the computing strategies and system designs that will carry RetailDNA into the future. In September, 1997, Ted joined Netscape as a Principal Consultant with the company's Worldwide Professional Services organization out of the NY Metro office. He was a member of the E-Commerce Infrastructure group of iPlanet as part of the Sun-Netscape Alliance. In this position he acted as a senior architect and technical advisor to customers in the implementation of Netscape's product line with a special emphasis on enterprise-wide intranet and extranet infrastructures. For example, he's worked with a global pharmaceutical company in revamping its 50K+ end-user messaging & calendaring internal service offerings; with a NYC brokerage firm in analyzing its new retail web site performance capabilities; and with another well-known financial services firm in the design of a web-based E-Commerce development platform.  Just before leaving Netscape he was working with a Fortune 10 company on what could eventually become the largest SSO (Single-Signon) directory infrastructure in the world.  Prior to Netscape he was a senior member of the software engineering staff within Xerox's Global Practices & Information Management organization. As Chief Knowledge Engineer he helped create and manage a high-productivity software development environment and while supplying architectural guidance to both Corporate Xerox and other Xerox business units. Additional Background (more detail here) During his tenure at Xerox, where he first joined the Knowledge Based Systems Competency Center in 1990, Ted worked on a number of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and consulted on a range of strategic technologies including object-oriented development, workflow tools, client/server infrastructures and World Wide Web application development. He was also responsible for the delivery of PICASO©, a suite of workflow-enabled, digital image processing applications which currently handle over 50,000 payment transactions per month for the Xerox Corporate Accounting Services Organization (CASO). Using C++ and an object-oriented approach from its inception, PICASO©achieved code reuse of over 50% and was a finalist in the object-oriented division of the NYC DBExpo ComputerWorld/Intel RealWare awards in recognition of its innovative use of OO techniques for building transaction processing systems.  Before coming to Xerox, Ted held a variety of positions at American Express in NYC, NY. These roles included systems programming, applications development and management, advanced technology research, and strategic technology analysis. He also participated in the creation of two AI systems for automated charge card authorization and the analysis of the global foreign currency market. He represented American Express as a technical spokesperson at numerous conferences in the US, Canada, South America and Europe on the use of AI in financial services. He holds a BA in Music & Russian Studies and an MS in Computer Science, both from Columbia University. While still residing in NYC he was an adjunct member of the Computer Science faculty at Fordham University. He is a member of the ACM, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the IEEE Computer Society.  Personal Interests Ted's interests include listening to all types of music from 12th century parallel organum to Tuvan throat singing to Bach cantatas to Balinese gamelan orchestras to Schubert male choral works to Leon Redbone to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra to Duke Ellington to Russian liturgical chant to the Talking Heads...  At an earlier, more idealistic, point in his life he even considered a career in music, studying choral conducting and classical singing as a tenor. He loves to read books from a wide range of genres including detective mysteries, forensic pathology, Civil War history, chaos theory and paleontology. At other times you may find him out taking a spin in his red '94 Mustang GT, tending his tomato garden when it's in season, or traveling with his Wife and Most Significant Other, Kathy, to interesting places overseas.  Though it's not good for his astigmatism, his physique or his electric bills, he's a devoted watcher of educational TV like The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel and The History Channel. As a result he's become one wicked Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit player.

Please send any feedback or questions to: tjm@cognosys.net