Policy Analyst, Systems Architect, Social Entrepreneur

Miles Fidelman specializes in systems architecture for distributed operations support systems and civic technology.  He has served as a systems architect and engineer, project/program/product manager, business developer, entrepreneur, and non-profit executive.  Throughout his career, he has been the first or second person through the door – understanding a customer’s problem, outlining a solution, obtaining requests for white papers and proposals, leading/performing early-stage efforts (study contracts, R&D programs), growing foot-in-the-door efforts into larger programs, and writing/leading proposals for major systems.

Professional Experience:

2011 – Current Protocol Technologies Group, LLC Principal

The Protocol Technologies Group provides Consulting Systems Architecture, Systems Engineering, and Project Management Services.

Protocol Technologies also performs sponsored Research & Development focused on application-layer network protocols.  PTG implements infrastructure, tools, and hosted services based on its research activities.

Mr. Fidelman initiated and led efforts for the United States Army, to develop “Smart Documents” to support massive, distributed collaboration for mission planning and execution.  This effort is currently continuing as an internally funded project.

2013 – 2016   Clever Devices Senior Systems Architect

Clever Devices provides Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for all modes of public transportation, including fixed-route, bus rapid transit, paratransit and rail. Mr. Fidelman developed architectures for client systems, and led system proposals.  He recently served as Systems Architect and Proposal Lead for Clever Devices’ proposal to Oakland, California – which led to the firm’s largest award in recent years.

2007 – 2010 Traverse Technologies Director of Government Programs

Traverse Technologies specializes in the design and development of web-enabled geospatial data systems.  Mr. Fidelman was hired to develop a DoD-focused sponsored R&D business unit – continuing in this role until Traverse was purchased.

In two years, Mr. Fidelman developed $1m of business with the Air Force, from scratch.  He wrote winning Phase I and Phase II SBIR proposals for Web Services Interoperability & Services Environment (WISE) and a winning proposal for Enabling End User Computing Environments.

Mr. Fidelman served as Principal Investigator, Systems Architect, and Program Manager for both efforts.

2004 – 2007 MÄK Technologies Business Development Manager (Technology)

MÄK Technologies sells modeling and simulation software, and desktop training systems, to the domestic and international defense industries.  Mr. Fidelman was responsible for obtaining sponsored research funding – primarily through SBIR and BAA funding.

1992 – 2003 The Center for Civic Networking, Inc. (CCN) President
1992 – 2003 Network Technology Corporation (NTC) President
1992 – 2003 Miscellaneous Independent Consulting Engagements

In 1992, Mr. Fidelman co-founded The Center for Civic Networking, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that promoted civic uses of computers and computer networks.  He directed the Center’s Municipal Telecommunications Research Program – performing policy research on telecommunications issues effecting local governments.  Mr. Fidelman led a number of demonstration and testbed projects with support from such funders as the Apple Computer Library of Tomorrow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  During this period he author ed two books (Telecommunications Strategies for Local Government and All-Out Internet Access, the Cambridge Public Library Model), served as Editor for the Journal of Municipal Telecommunications, and authored a regular column for civic.com magazine.

As an outgrowth of CCN work, Mr. Fidelman has developed a web site design practice, and an associated web hosting service, operating as the Network Technology Corporation (NTC). Mr. Fidelman formed NTC in 1977, to resell time-sharing services to small organizations.  During its operation, Network Technology developed and spun out the Agora Language Marketplace (an  on-line marketplace for language education materials).  Other projects included the New England Arts Network (in partnership with the New England Foundation for the Arts), an on-line catalog and ordering system for Schoenhof’s Foreign Books (the country’s largest distributor of foreign language materials).

Also as an outgrowth of CCN work, Mr. Fidelman was engaged for a variety of consulting assignments, acting both independently and through CCN.  Clients included the (Boston, MA) Metropolitan Area Planning Council; Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts;  Martin Countly, FL;  the cities of Abilene, TX; Ashland, OR; Beverly, MA; and Jacksonville, FL; and commercial clients including World Wide Packets and Black & Veatch.

1985 – 1992 Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc.

Prior to founding the Center for Civic Networking, Mr. Fidelman held several positions at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc. Mr. Fidelman served as:

Product Manager, BBN/Slate: BBN/Slate was a multimedia workgroup communications package for the UNIX environment. It was primarily sold systems integrators as a component for intelligence workstations. Responsibilities included management of marketing and sales activities, product and market planning, large account sales, distributor/VAR relationships, and management of product delivery and support operations.

Sr. Systems Engineer: Performed a variety of assignments involving planning and implementation of large data networks, and of application systems intended to run across such networks. Developed the Network Management Architecture & CONOPS for the Defense Data Network (DDN).  Served both government and commercial clients, as both an individual contributor and project manager. Pursued new business for the group and served on BBN proposal teams. Technical specialization in the areas of large internetwork architectures, network management, and network security. 

1982 – 1985 Sanders Associates

Principal Electronic Engineer: Performed a variety of systems engineering projects as both an individual contributor and team leader. Led and supported a variety of proposal efforts to Sander’s government systems clients. Projects focused on development of embedded processors and network subsystems for avionic, electronic warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and command & control systems.

Director of Scientific Computing: As a department head within Sanders’ central computing organization, managed time-sharing services provided to Sanders engineers. Coordinated the transition from centralized time-sharing (mainframe based) to department-level time-sharing (mini-computer based).

1974 – 1992 (dba) Miles R. Fidelman, Independent Engineering Consultant
1977 – 1992 Network Technology Corporation, President

Independent engineering practice. Notable projects included development of the text-to-speech subsystem of the Kurzweill Reading Machine and development of several process control and image analysis systems for use in photographic processing machinery. As Network Technology, he resold time-sharing services to small organizations.

Education and Affiliations

B.Sc., Interdisciplinary Science Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1975. Focus on Artificial Intelligence with concentrations in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Cognitive Psychology.

Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), the Internet Society (ISOC).  Founding Board Member of the MIT Enterprise Forum (no longer active on board).  Founding Chairman of the Boston Chapter of the MIT Educational Council (no longer active).

Selected Publications, Speaking, and Workshop Engagements

Publications:

Edited and published the Journal of Municipal Telecommunications

Telecommunications Strategies for Local Government  Handbook published by Government Technology Press. Synopsis re-published by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Paving Our Electronic Dirt Roads in The New Rules Journal. Winter, 2000.

../telecom. Column in civic.com. International Data Group, 1996-1997.

All-Out Internet Access Book about Internet access in public libraries. American Library Association Editions. February, 1997.

The Internet for Local Government. Five-part series in Local Government NewsNet, published by the Innovation Groups. May 1995 through May 1996.

Models for the Internet Local Loop. Chapter in Public Access to the Internet, edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller. MIT Press. 1995

Community-Based Networking in Rural Settings. Chapter in Rural Libraries and Internetworking, edited by Judith J. Senkevitch and Dietmar Wolfram. Scarecrow Press. 1995

Life in the Fast Lane: A Municipal Roadmap for the Information Superhighway. Article in Municipal Advocate. Massachusetts Municipal Association. Summer, 1994.

A National Strategy for Civic Networking: A Vision of Change, with Richard Civille. The Center for Civic Networking. 1994.

Speaking and Workshop Engagements

Automated HLA Federation Interoperability Testing. Fall Simulation Interoperability Workshop.  September, 2004.

Infrastructure – How to Connect People and Businesses.  Jacksonville, FL Government Technology Summit, November, 2001.

Telecommunications Strategies for Local Government. Post-conference workshop at Cable/Telco Franchising & Competition. Strategic Research Institute. June, 1998.

Developing a Telecommunications Strategy for Your Community. Keynote speaker, Telecommunications and Public Power. Northeast Public Power Association. May, 1998

Telecommunications Strategies for Local Government. Post-conference workshop at 2nd Annual Smart Communities Conference. Center for Business Intelligence. February, 1998.

Smart Communities, Planning Public Information Systems for Economic Development & Civic Improvement. Chairman, panelist and workshop leader. Center for Business Intelligence. September, 1997.

Update on the Telecommunications Act. Panelist at Government Technologies Conference,East. Government Technology. September, 1997.

Community-Based Networks in the Electronic Age, at Library Management Symposium VIII, Reinventing the Library – Building Partnerships, sponsored by MOLO Regional Library System, NOLA Regional Library System, and NORWELD. Ohio, October 1995.

Marketing on the Internet, Presentation to American Marketing Association Boston Chapter. February 1995.

Plug Into the Internet. Featured speaker at this workshop for local governments organized by the Innovation Groups. Presented to municipal managers in Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and Kansas. This workshop was held 9 times, with a total attendance of approximately 600 senior municipal managers. January – May 1995.

Making Sure the Information Superhighway Comes to Your Community. Massachusetts Municipal Association, Annual Meeting, January 1995

Private workshop for the Danbury Community Network planning committee, organized by the Danbury Public Library. January 1995.

Universal Access and Teledemocracy. Panelist, Telecommunications Policy Roundtable – Northeast, November 1994

Economics of the Information Industry, panelist, ASIS (American Society for Information Science) Annual Meeting, October 1994

Planning local on-ramps to the Information Superhighway: from Institutional Networks to the Internet. Workshop on Cable Television Franchise Renewal, University of Wisconsin – Madison, October 1994

Sustainable Development Information Network (SDIN): Report on Year 1 presented at the Building Community Networks Conference, May 1994

Community-based Networking in Rural Settings, at Internetworking Rural Libraries Institute, University of Minnesota, May 1994

How will the Information Superhighway Impact Society?, Harvey Mudd Alumni College, February 1994.

The Internet Local Loop, at Invitational Conference on Public Access to the Internet at John F. Kennedy School of Government – Harvard University, May 1993

Panelist for session on Looking Down the Information Highway, American Society for Information Science – New England Chapter, May 1993

The Internet Local Loop, Invitational Conference on Public Access to the Internet at John F. Kennedy School of Government – Harvard University, May 1993

The Changing Internet in Massachusetts, Invitational Conference Getting from Here to There: Building Information Infrastructure in Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy School of Government, March 1993

Managing your Management and Client – The Critical Relationships, Presentation at Frontiers in Project Management, Boston University Center for Project Management, April 1990

An Introduction to Workflow Automation, AUTOFACT, November 1991

Unix in the Office Environment, AIX Expo, October 1991

Current and Emerging Internetwork Technology, joint presentation w/ John Rugo, New England Regional Computing Program (NERCOMP) conference on Using Network Information Services, April 1991

Managing Large System Engineering Projects in the Government Contractor Environment, Presentation at Frontiers in Project Management, Boston University Center for Project Management, April 1990

DCS Data Security with LAN-Based Subscribers, AFCEA Military/Government Computing Conference and Exposition, January 1990

The DARPA Internet – A Model for Large Scale Network Interconnection, Presentation at IEEE Communications Society Seminar on Recent Advances and Trends in Data Communications Networks, May 1987