Karl Lehenbauer
Encyclopedia
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
in the southern United States as well as the first to offer cable modem
Cable modem
A cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a HFC and RFoG infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
service in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, among other technological milestones. NeoSoft was later sold to Internet America
Internet America
Internet America is an American Internet service provider headquartered in northwest unincorporated Harris County, Texas, near Houston.-History:...
in 1998. Lehenbauer also wrote the Internet (socket
Internet socket
In computer networking, an Internet socket or network socket is an endpoint of a bidirectional inter-process communication flow across an Internet Protocol-based computer network, such as the Internet....
) capabilities of the Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
programming language.
Lehenbauer has been contributing to the development of Internet software and protocols since 1986. Lehenbauer is the co-creator of the TclX
TclX
TclX, an abbreviation for extended Tcl, was one of the first freely available Tcl extensions to the Tcl programming language, providing new operating system interface commands, extended file controls, time and date manipulation, scanning and status commands and many others...
programming language, much of which has now been incorporated into Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
. Lehenbauer now serves as the CTO
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
of Superconnect, an enterprise cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
/telecom
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
monitoring software company and also as CTO
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
of FlightAware
FlightAware
FlightAware is an aviation software and data services company. Based in Houston, Texas, it is best known for the flightaware.com web site, the first to offer free flight tracking of both private and commercial aircraft in the United States...
, an aviation data and flight tracking company.
Recent software projects
Lehenbauer founded or is a major contributor to the following Internet software projects:- Apache RivetApache RivetApache Rivet is an open source programming system that allows developers of web sites to use Tcl as a scripting language for creating dynamic web sites. Rivet is similar to PHP, ASP, and JSP...
(Modern fork of NeoWebScript) - pgtcl (Tcl interface to PostgreSQLPostgreSQLPostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
) - ldaptcl (Tcl interface to LDAPLightweight Directory Access ProtocolThe Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
) - NeoWebScript (ApacheApache HTTP ServerThe Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache , is web server software notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. In 2009 it became the first web server software to surpass the 100 million website milestone...
module for Tcl scripting in web pages)
Personal
Lehenbauer lives in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
with his wife and two daughters. He is an avid philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, cyclist, and private pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
.