Alan R. Weiss
Encyclopedia
Alan R. Weiss is a computer industry expert on benchmarking
and Software development tools, as well as telehealth and embedded systems. In January 2009, Weiss, along with business partner Samuel B. Fuller, formed Waldo Networks, Inc., an innovative telehealth devices and medical health care services company. The company received Angel and Venture Capital investment in late 2009, and received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market for the Waldo Health System. in April 2011.
Weiss is Founder and CEO of Synchromesh Computing, LLC in Austin
, Texas
. His work included consulting with major semiconductor companies on software tools, operating systems, performance improvements, and power reduction technologies. Synchromesh Computing also developed products for others, including a 32-bit high performance NAND
flash memory device, an MP3
player system for incarcerated prisoners, a complete electric vehicle control system for a Class III/Class IV all-electric truck, and other technologies. Waldo Health was a spin-out from Synchromesh Computing.
Weiss helped develop the benchmark
source code for EEMBC, and was the Project Manager for EEMBC's Technical Advisory Group, the main team chartered with the technical direction of EEMBC. EEMBC is an industry-standard consortium of 60 semiconductor and compiler companies.
Before starting ECL, Weiss worked for Motorola
(now Freescale Semiconductor
) for 6 years, rising from a software developer to Manager of Software Technologies and Principal Systems Software Architect for Intelligent Transportation Systems. He was, for a time, software architect for corporate-wide Speech Recognition technologies inside of Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor
).
He was a co-founder and was the Motorola Voting Board Member of the EDN Embedded Benchmark Consortium EEMBC
. He served as the first Chairperson of that consortium's Automotive/Industrial Subcommittee. Before that, he helped found and served as the first Vice-Chairman of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation SPEC
Graphics Performance Committee Multimedia Benchmark Committee (SPEC Media). He is a recognized industry expert in microprocessor performance analysis, benchmarking, software engineering, and Software development tools. He has spoken at Cool Chips, DesignCon, Embedded Systems Conference, Microprocessor Forum, and other computer industry conferences.
Weiss is a member of the Advisory Boards of a number of computer industry companies, including dbk Associates, and is a former member of the Microprocessor Report Editorial Review Board and a former member of the Technical Advisory Board for Improv Systems, a Silicon Valley intellectual property company.
political activist, former Vice President and Organizer of the Free State Project
, was an elected officer in Austin
, Texas
.
Weiss was elected, as a Libertarian
, a Director of the Northwest Austin #1 Municipal Utility District and had a fiduciary responsibility for that public utility in the state of Texas
, USA. Previously he had worked for the establishment of an elementary school in Canyon Creek, his neighborhood, which was granted in the mid-1990s by Round Rock Independent School District. While in office he served as the Finance Chairman, and led the effort to reduce taxes while improving services. Taxes were reduced by over 50% on property in his District under his leadership. Services to residents/taxpayers were actually improved as a result. He resigned when believed his work was completed on the basic taxation issue, but not before participating in a lawsuit against the City of Austin for multiplicity of taxation. Alan R. Weiss, Don Zimmerman, and William Ferguson asserted that Austin had violated the Texas State Water Code. The case has been heard by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals of the State of Texas. Meanwhile, there was a failed attempt by the State of Texas Legislature to modify the state Water Code to deny in-city Municipal Utility Districts and cities from creating allocation agreements. The Third Circuit court ruled in 2009 that an allocation agreement in fact did exist, and that the City of Austin must adjust its tax rates so that the ad valorem taxes were equivalent such that the taxes paid by residents in the M.U.D. were equal to those paid by others in the rest of the city. The City took the case to the Texas Supreme Court, but that court denied to review the case. Issuing a relatively confusing order for the City and the M.U.D. to negotiate "in good faith", the City of Austin finally threw in the towel in the winter of 2010, buying out the M.U.D. bond debt. Thus, the M.U.D. decided to abolish itself. Director Weiss, along with Directors Zimmerman and Ferguson, had won the case
In February 2006 Weiss was elected a Director of the Canyon Creek Homeowner's Association, where he pledged to re-open all closed infrastructure without raising taxes using volunteer labor.
Weiss is the Founder and Chairman of The Ceres Project, a small investment project dedicated to funding a new film and book by L. Neil Smith
entitled Ceres, and is similarly the Founder and Chairman of the follow-up project, The Ares Alliance. Combined, the two funds raised significant capital in a very short amount of time. The book "Ceres" was first-draft finished in December 2005 and distributed to investors in March 2006 as completed, proving that private investment club funding could work to fund major (over 800 pages) new pieces of literature.
Weiss has written dozens of articles and essays for both Rational Review and The Libertarian Enterprise, an influential anarcho-capitalist and paleolibertarian journal, including "They're Not Here, and They're Not Coming Part 1", "They're Not Here and They're Not Coming Part 2", "SCOTUS Among Us", "The Economics of Sitting Ducks", "Alan R. Weiss Endorses Michael Badnarik for President", "Thoughts on Forms of Political Economy on Mars Part 1", "Real World Economics", "Planes, Trains, and the Free State Project", "Our Kind of Town", "The Dan Weiner Delivery", "On Mel Gibson", and "Lux Lucre, R.I.P." He was on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Austin American-Statesman with a picture of him in front of an American flag, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in his hand, a smile on his face in the featured article, "On To New Hampshire To Build The Land of the Free" by Mark Lisheron. This marked the second time Alan R. Weiss was on the front of the Austin American-Statesman
, the first time being in advocacy of building a neighborhood elementary school on pre-allocated, free, but unused land.
Weiss' company certified the voting process and the balloting for Free State Project (FSP)
. This was an example of a private company certifying a major vote of an intensely scrutinized (by the Media) organization.
Weiss joined the Free State Project
as a Participant, then became an Organizer and Advisor, and then led the Executive Search Team to find the Director of Development for the FSP. He was elected Vice President of the Free State Project.
Because of his activities in the Free State Project and in Travis County, he attended the 2004 Libertarian Party National Convention (both as a credentialed delegate from Texas
and as Vice President of the Free State Project). He was asked, and gave, one of the nominating speeches for Michael Badnarik
, which was televised on C-SPAN
.
Weiss' involvement in the LP extends back to 1978, when he started a Students for a Libertarian Society
(SLS) chapter at California State University, Northridge
(CSUN) and then the Northridge Libertarian Society. He cut his teeth on the Ed Clark
for Governor campaign, and then continued working within the LP on the Ed Clark
for President campaign in 1980.
Weiss holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from California State University
, Northridge (CSUN), and has extensive post-baccalaureate training and education in hardware and software engineering, semiconductor physics, management science, and project management. He regularly teaches classes in software engineering to help better the industry and its products.
Weiss has published a number of papers at various software and semiconductor-related conferences, and has given presentations at Embedded Systems Conference, DesignCon, Cool Chips IV, Freescale Technology Forum, and Embedded Processor Forum. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE Number 40357826).
Alan R. Weiss is a graduate of El Camino Real High School
in Woodland Hills
California (1977), where he was active in the Model United Nations club, and California State University Northridge (1982). He lives with his wife, Jane, a former school teacher, and their grown adult kids Robyn, Jessica, David, and AnnaMaria in Austin, Texas along with two Labrador Retrievers, three cats, and two ferrets.
Benchmark (computing)
In computing, a benchmark is the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it...
and Software development tools, as well as telehealth and embedded systems. In January 2009, Weiss, along with business partner Samuel B. Fuller, formed Waldo Networks, Inc., an innovative telehealth devices and medical health care services company. The company received Angel and Venture Capital investment in late 2009, and received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market for the Waldo Health System. in April 2011.
Weiss is Founder and CEO of Synchromesh Computing, LLC in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. His work included consulting with major semiconductor companies on software tools, operating systems, performance improvements, and power reduction technologies. Synchromesh Computing also developed products for others, including a 32-bit high performance NAND
Nand
NAND may stand for:*Nand , an Indian classical raga.*Logical NAND , a binary operation in logic.**NAND gate, an electronic gate that implements a logical NAND....
flash memory device, an MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
player system for incarcerated prisoners, a complete electric vehicle control system for a Class III/Class IV all-electric truck, and other technologies. Waldo Health was a spin-out from Synchromesh Computing.
Weiss helped develop the benchmark
Benchmark (computing)
In computing, a benchmark is the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it...
source code for EEMBC, and was the Project Manager for EEMBC's Technical Advisory Group, the main team chartered with the technical direction of EEMBC. EEMBC is an industry-standard consortium of 60 semiconductor and compiler companies.
Before starting ECL, Weiss worked for Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
(now Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is a producer and designer of embedded hardware, with 17 billion semiconductor chips in use around the world. The company focuses on the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets with its product portfolio including microprocessors, microcontrollers,...
) for 6 years, rising from a software developer to Manager of Software Technologies and Principal Systems Software Architect for Intelligent Transportation Systems. He was, for a time, software architect for corporate-wide Speech Recognition technologies inside of Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is a producer and designer of embedded hardware, with 17 billion semiconductor chips in use around the world. The company focuses on the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets with its product portfolio including microprocessors, microcontrollers,...
).
He was a co-founder and was the Motorola Voting Board Member of the EDN Embedded Benchmark Consortium EEMBC
EEMBC
EEMBC, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, is a non-profit organization formed in 1997 with the aim of developing meaningful performance benchmarks for the hardware and software used in embedded systems...
. He served as the first Chairperson of that consortium's Automotive/Industrial Subcommittee. Before that, he helped found and served as the first Vice-Chairman of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation SPEC
Spec
-Specification:* Specification , an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service** "Spec sheet" or datasheet used to describe something technical...
Graphics Performance Committee Multimedia Benchmark Committee (SPEC Media). He is a recognized industry expert in microprocessor performance analysis, benchmarking, software engineering, and Software development tools. He has spoken at Cool Chips, DesignCon, Embedded Systems Conference, Microprocessor Forum, and other computer industry conferences.
Weiss is a member of the Advisory Boards of a number of computer industry companies, including dbk Associates, and is a former member of the Microprocessor Report Editorial Review Board and a former member of the Technical Advisory Board for Improv Systems, a Silicon Valley intellectual property company.
Libertarian Activism, Political office, and Personal
Alan R. Weiss is a LibertarianLibertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
political activist, former Vice President and Organizer of the Free State Project
Free State Project
The Free State Project is a political movement, founded in 2001, to recruit at least 20,000 libertarian-leaning people to move to New Hampshire in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas....
, was an elected officer in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, a Director of the Northwest Austin #1 Municipal Utility District and had a fiduciary responsibility for that public utility in the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, USA. Previously he had worked for the establishment of an elementary school in Canyon Creek, his neighborhood, which was granted in the mid-1990s by Round Rock Independent School District. While in office he served as the Finance Chairman, and led the effort to reduce taxes while improving services. Taxes were reduced by over 50% on property in his District under his leadership. Services to residents/taxpayers were actually improved as a result. He resigned when believed his work was completed on the basic taxation issue, but not before participating in a lawsuit against the City of Austin for multiplicity of taxation. Alan R. Weiss, Don Zimmerman, and William Ferguson asserted that Austin had violated the Texas State Water Code. The case has been heard by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals of the State of Texas. Meanwhile, there was a failed attempt by the State of Texas Legislature to modify the state Water Code to deny in-city Municipal Utility Districts and cities from creating allocation agreements. The Third Circuit court ruled in 2009 that an allocation agreement in fact did exist, and that the City of Austin must adjust its tax rates so that the ad valorem taxes were equivalent such that the taxes paid by residents in the M.U.D. were equal to those paid by others in the rest of the city. The City took the case to the Texas Supreme Court, but that court denied to review the case. Issuing a relatively confusing order for the City and the M.U.D. to negotiate "in good faith", the City of Austin finally threw in the towel in the winter of 2010, buying out the M.U.D. bond debt. Thus, the M.U.D. decided to abolish itself. Director Weiss, along with Directors Zimmerman and Ferguson, had won the case
In February 2006 Weiss was elected a Director of the Canyon Creek Homeowner's Association, where he pledged to re-open all closed infrastructure without raising taxes using volunteer labor.
Weiss is the Founder and Chairman of The Ceres Project, a small investment project dedicated to funding a new film and book by L. Neil Smith
L. Neil Smith
L. Neil Smith , also known to readers and fans as El Neil, is a libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12, 1946 in Denver...
entitled Ceres, and is similarly the Founder and Chairman of the follow-up project, The Ares Alliance. Combined, the two funds raised significant capital in a very short amount of time. The book "Ceres" was first-draft finished in December 2005 and distributed to investors in March 2006 as completed, proving that private investment club funding could work to fund major (over 800 pages) new pieces of literature.
Weiss has written dozens of articles and essays for both Rational Review and The Libertarian Enterprise, an influential anarcho-capitalist and paleolibertarian journal, including "They're Not Here, and They're Not Coming Part 1", "They're Not Here and They're Not Coming Part 2", "SCOTUS Among Us", "The Economics of Sitting Ducks", "Alan R. Weiss Endorses Michael Badnarik for President", "Thoughts on Forms of Political Economy on Mars Part 1", "Real World Economics", "Planes, Trains, and the Free State Project", "Our Kind of Town", "The Dan Weiner Delivery", "On Mel Gibson", and "Lux Lucre, R.I.P." He was on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Austin American-Statesman with a picture of him in front of an American flag, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in his hand, a smile on his face in the featured article, "On To New Hampshire To Build The Land of the Free" by Mark Lisheron. This marked the second time Alan R. Weiss was on the front of the Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
, the first time being in advocacy of building a neighborhood elementary school on pre-allocated, free, but unused land.
Weiss' company certified the voting process and the balloting for Free State Project (FSP)
Free State Project
The Free State Project is a political movement, founded in 2001, to recruit at least 20,000 libertarian-leaning people to move to New Hampshire in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas....
. This was an example of a private company certifying a major vote of an intensely scrutinized (by the Media) organization.
Weiss joined the Free State Project
Free State Project
The Free State Project is a political movement, founded in 2001, to recruit at least 20,000 libertarian-leaning people to move to New Hampshire in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas....
as a Participant, then became an Organizer and Advisor, and then led the Executive Search Team to find the Director of Development for the FSP. He was elected Vice President of the Free State Project.
Because of his activities in the Free State Project and in Travis County, he attended the 2004 Libertarian Party National Convention (both as a credentialed delegate from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and as Vice President of the Free State Project). He was asked, and gave, one of the nominating speeches for Michael Badnarik
Michael Badnarik
Michael J. Badnarik is an American software engineer, political figure, and former radio talk show host. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 elections, and placed fourth in the race, behind independent candidate Ralph Nader...
, which was televised on C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
.
Weiss' involvement in the LP extends back to 1978, when he started a Students for a Libertarian Society
Students for a Libertarian Society
Students for a Libertarian Society is an activist organization for students in the United States who want to promote libertarian ideals on college campuses.- Origins :...
(SLS) chapter at California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....
(CSUN) and then the Northridge Libertarian Society. He cut his teeth on the Ed Clark
Ed Clark
Ed Clark is an American politician who ran for Governor of California in 1978, and for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1980 presidential election....
for Governor campaign, and then continued working within the LP on the Ed Clark
Ed Clark
Ed Clark is an American politician who ran for Governor of California in 1978, and for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1980 presidential election....
for President campaign in 1980.
Weiss holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
, Northridge (CSUN), and has extensive post-baccalaureate training and education in hardware and software engineering, semiconductor physics, management science, and project management. He regularly teaches classes in software engineering to help better the industry and its products.
Weiss has published a number of papers at various software and semiconductor-related conferences, and has given presentations at Embedded Systems Conference, DesignCon, Cool Chips IV, Freescale Technology Forum, and Embedded Processor Forum. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
(IEEE Number 40357826).
Alan R. Weiss is a graduate of El Camino Real High School
El Camino Real High School
El Camino Real Charter High School is a public secondary school located in the Woodland Hills district of the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California...
in Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills is the name of various communities in the United States, including:*Woodland Hills, Cleveland, a neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.* Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California...
California (1977), where he was active in the Model United Nations club, and California State University Northridge (1982). He lives with his wife, Jane, a former school teacher, and their grown adult kids Robyn, Jessica, David, and AnnaMaria in Austin, Texas along with two Labrador Retrievers, three cats, and two ferrets.
External links
- http://www.synchromeshcomputing.com/ Synchromesh Computing
- http://www.waldonetworks.com Waldo Networks, Inc.
- http://www.freestateproject.org Free State Project
- http://www.lneilsmith.org/ceres-project.html The Ceres Project
- http://www.lneilsmith.org/ares-alliance.html The Ares Alliance