I left the software group at Intel last week. This has been on the cards for a fairly long period but various things got in the way that delayed the change. The reasons are primarily personal ones to do with what I want/need from work, that it became obvious I could not get within my current group or likely from other software groups at Intel.

I worked on a couple of major products at Intel over six years, the first was a spin-off of XML library work I did at Sarvega (acquired by Intel in 2005). This product ran into difficulties really on all fronts, its business positioning, its value proposition and its technical merit. I was heavily invested (several years or work) in the technology behind this, but good technology (arguably the best XML libraries available anywhere) is rarely enough to ensure success and the development was eventually scaled back substantially.

The XML development group was reformed closer to its roots as part of what is now termed “Application Security & Identity Products”, I took on a more central role for the identity side, managing the engineering team rather than only being a standalone architect. The result of this was the release earlier this year of Expressway Cloud Access 360 (yes, it’s rather a mouthful).

Everyone keeps asking me where will you go next, well the short version is I am taking a break before deciding anything. I learned a lot of great lessons at Intel but I need to be somewhere where I can use those to better effect, that is where I expect I will be in a few months time. For the moment I am happy to take some time out, catch up on where the broader tech world is and regain a better life/work balance; maybe I can even stop speaking in Intel-isms if I try very hard :-)

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