Jim Leonard

11 Saint Clements Rd #2                                    vleonard@infinet.com
Medford, MA  02155                                                 614-354-4707

Programmer with 8 years professional experience programming client/server 
software in C/C++ and Perl on Linux, VMS and Windows seeking a software 
development position, preferably in the Boston area.  

Starbak Communications	                                    Nov 2000 - Sep 2004
Senior Software Engineer 	
  Senior programmer responsible for developing all aspects of Starbak's video 
  streaming servers.
  * Implemented video streaming servers used in Starbak's appliance servers and
    licensed to third parties.  The servers were developed in C under Linux
    through reverse engineering (Windows Media) and in compliance with 
    published protocols (RTSP/RTP/MPEG/Quicktime/HTTP).
  * Led the redesign and implementation of Starbak's RTSP/RTP based video 
    streaming server permitting usage to scale to thousands of clients on 
    commodity hardware.  Implementation was completed in C, Lex and Yacc and 
    included conversion to asynchronous I/O and extensive caching of streaming 
    data.
  * Enabled Starbak's web interface and third party applications to control the
    streaming servers and update the SQL backend by coding XMLRPC interfaces.
  * Improved presentation of recorded video conference streams in Quicktime and
    RealPlayer by creating modules to rewrite the RTP and h.261/h.263 framing 
    to correct timing and audio/video synchronization issues and to compensate 
    for lost packets.

H&R Block / Compuserve                                      Jul 1997 - Nov 2000
Software Engineer 	
  Programmer for the group responsible for maintaining H&R Block's electronic 
  filing servers.
  * Updated efile server applications and hardware to comply with annual 
    changes to tax law and business needs.  The applications were written for 
    VMS clusters and heavily used VMS system services and custom databases.
  * Integrated TaxCut into Block's existing electronic filing system to remove
    dependency on a third party filing system.  In the first year this system
    handled 1 million income tax returns saving $2 million.  Preprocessing, 
    reporting and tracking modules were coded in C and Perl for VMS and Win32.
  * Supported real time operation of the electronic filing system during tax 
    season, including on call duty, custom report generation and creation of 
    one-off programs to fix larger scale problems.
  * Improved reliability of Block's interface with the IRS, state departments 
    of revenue and partner banks by coding a replacement communication system 
    supporting IP and dialup protocols that annually handles over 15 million 
    tax returns as well as their associated loan applications and check 
    authorizations.  The project was coded in C and DCL and included 
    customizing transfer protocols to handle antiquated IRS systems.

Advanced Communications Services                                           1999
Consultant
  * Enabled the replacement of the current voicemail system by writing 
    high-level voice modem device drivers in Perl/Perl XS.
  * Permitted expansion of core business functions by writing fax drivers and 
    low-level call center functionality.

Ohio Federation for the Blind (non-profit)                                 1998
Donated coding skills
  * Automated the process of parsing and marking up job listings for a text to
    speech program.