Mark Carlson (engineer)
Encyclopedia
Mark A. Carlson is a software engineer
known in the systems management
industry for his work in management standards and technology. Mark was the first employee of a small startup in Boulder, Colorado
called Redcape Policy Software. Sun Microsystems
acquired the company and its technology in 1998 and subsequently promoted it as Jiro
, a common management framework based on Java
and Jini
.
Carlson is probably best known for his work on the development of a storage management standard called SMI-S
for the SNIA
, serving as the chair of the group overseeing the specification for several years. The specification is now an ANSI and ISO standard.
In addition to SMI-S, Mark also has led the development of a reference implementation of the XAM
standard, a next generation storage interface with support for metadata
, query
and compliance based data retention
of fixed content. Based on this work, he authored the Storage Industry Resource Domain Model, a model for Computer data storage interfaces showing the role of system metadata for future integrated Data Services orchestrated by policy.
Carlson has led various efforts around Policy Based Management, including co-authoring RFC 3198 and chairing of the DMTF and SNIA policy working groups. He is a core contributor on the Apache incubator project called Imperius, which is an implementation of the standard CIM-SPL policy language.
Mark's most recent efforts have been to lead the development of a standard cloud storage
interface leveraging the preceding storage and data management technologies. As chair of the SNIA Cloud Storage Technical Work Group, he is driving the development of the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) and a reference implementation of the interface.
He is currently serving on the SNIA Technical Council. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), where he serves as the VP of Alliances.
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
known in the systems management
Systems management
Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed systems including computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunications....
industry for his work in management standards and technology. Mark was the first employee of a small startup in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
called Redcape Policy Software. Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
acquired the company and its technology in 1998 and subsequently promoted it as Jiro
Jiro
Jiro is the registered name used by Sun Microsystems for an extension to Java and Jini.Jiro as an industry initiative, along with an EMC initiative called "Wide Sky" were catalysts in the late nineties for a common interface to storage devices, leading to the Bluefin specification, subsequently...
, a common management framework based on Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and Jini
Jini
Jini , also called Apache River, is a network architecture for the construction of distributed systems in the form of modular co-operating services.Originally developed by Sun, Jini was released under an open source license...
.
Carlson is probably best known for his work on the development of a storage management standard called SMI-S
SMI-S
SMI-S, or the Storage Management Initiative – Specification, is a storage standard developed and maintained by the Storage Networking Industry Association . It has also been ratified as an ISO standard...
for the SNIA
Storage Networking Industry Association
An association of producers and consumers of storage networking products, whose goal is to further storage networking technology and applications.The Storage Networking Industry Association, or SNIA, was incorporated in December, 1997, and is a registered 501 non-profit trade association...
, serving as the chair of the group overseeing the specification for several years. The specification is now an ANSI and ISO standard.
In addition to SMI-S, Mark also has led the development of a reference implementation of the XAM
Xam
XAM, or the eXtensible Access Method, is a storage standard developed and maintained by the Storage Networking Industry Association . It is in the process of being ratified as an ANSI standard. XAM is an API for fixed content aware storage devices. XAM replaces the various proprietary interfaces...
standard, a next generation storage interface with support for metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
, query
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
and compliance based data retention
Data retention
Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. A data retention policy weighs legal and privacy concerns against economics and need to know concerns to determine both the retention time, archival rules, data...
of fixed content. Based on this work, he authored the Storage Industry Resource Domain Model, a model for Computer data storage interfaces showing the role of system metadata for future integrated Data Services orchestrated by policy.
Carlson has led various efforts around Policy Based Management, including co-authoring RFC 3198 and chairing of the DMTF and SNIA policy working groups. He is a core contributor on the Apache incubator project called Imperius, which is an implementation of the standard CIM-SPL policy language.
Mark's most recent efforts have been to lead the development of a standard cloud storage
Cloud storage
Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...
interface leveraging the preceding storage and data management technologies. As chair of the SNIA Cloud Storage Technical Work Group, he is driving the development of the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) and a reference implementation of the interface.
He is currently serving on the SNIA Technical Council. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), where he serves as the VP of Alliances.