Noiz Waves

My name is Adam Neumann and I’m from Perth, Australia. Currently my time is split between work and university. I’m an avid Mac user, and have been for since mid to late 2007. I’m definately not a fully blown Apple Fanboy; the other hardware and software vendors still have their place in the market. But for personal/consumer level computing, Apple wins. My favourite aspect is the operating system; it’s so enjoyable and efficient to use!

I work for Iris Data Services, a US-based start-up in the legal services industry. We handle all sort of eDiscovery tasks including forensics, metadata extraction and review. My role in the company is a Solutions Architect, so I work on keeping our current systems running optimally whilst designing and implementing new systems that are both flexible and scalable to facilitate the company’s growth. I’m lucky enough to work with some incredibly talented and dedicated people; this makes work something I want to do, rather than have to do. I’m very passionate about my current role and really want to do well at it!

At university I’m completing an additional Honours level year on top of my regular undergraduate degree. I started off doing a double degree in Electronic Engineering / Computer Science, but found the Engineering side of things was holding my back from my true passion in Computer Science. As part of the Honours year, I’m working independently on a year long research project. My project involves running an OLAP (multi-dimensional) database on an NVIDIA graphics card by utilising CUDA and GPGPU. OLAP databases make up an important component of Business Intelligence systems and because of the sheer size of data they process, can run very slow. My aim it to harness the power of the GPU to accelerate the server. The project itself is interesting and challenging, and has a lot of commercial potential.

Also, I like to listen to music, watch TV and (occasionally) play sport. The music I listen to depends entirely on my current mood; it can be rock, alternative, electronic, rap, pop, or ambient. Check out my last.fm profile for more info. My favourite TV shows include Lost, Heroes, jPod, Prison Break, One Tree Hill, The L Word, Stargate Atlantis, and Californication. When I get a chance, I like to go for a bike ride along the coast; it’s an awesome way to de-stress and get some exercise. Also I play for a 4-a-side indoor beach volleyball team.