SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Mr. Bonner has been involved with large scale, complex software engineering projects for over 32 years. As early as 1978 he was responsible for developing and maintaining Xerox’s APT (Automatically Programmed Tooling) compiler for automating off-line machine tool and robotic systems programming. This system consisted of over 1.5 million lines of FORTRAN code designed to reduce the effort required to manually compute complex geometric motion paths. The APT language was developed in 1955 by a team led by Douglas T. Ross of MIT and is the oldest computer programming language remaining in use today. Significant software engineering achievements included development of a “Generic Post-Processor for Milling Machines” and support of Xerox’s STAR workstation which was used as a model for Apple’s Lisa and MacIntosh computers.

In June of 1981 Mr. Bonner began designing and developing computer-aided manufacturing and engineering applications for Intergraph Corporation. These systems were based on Intergraph’s IGDS (Interactive Graphics Design System) which leveraged Glenn’s extensive background in surface geometry and FORTRAN programming. Until 1985 Glenn led programming teams using Digital’s PDP and VAX systems primarily using FORTRAN and Pascal. Significant software engineering achievements during this period included the design and development of “Dynamic Screen Menus”, “User-Formatted Output post-processors”, “Database-driven metadata menuing system” and “Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline” surfaces.

In 1986 the manufacturing applications team began migrating to the ‘C’ programming language on Intergraph’s AT&T UNIX-based “Clipper” workstations. Glenn led the 60-person manufacturing team in the development and deployment of a “Smalltalk-80” Object-Oriented computer graphics system which was marketed as I/EMS (Intergraph Engineering Modeling System) – a robust mechanical engineering, design, analysis and manufacturing applications platform. This system was widely deployed throughout the US, both in commercial and DOD environments as well as in Europe and Australia. During this time, Intergraph migrated from its proprietary DMRS (Data Management and Retrieval System) to off-the-shelf Ingres and Informix database engines. Significant software engineering achievements during this period included “Object Oriented Software Design” and software quality engineering using the Software Engineering Institute’s “Capability Maturity Model”.

In 1990 Glenn shifted gears and began building new business for Intergraph by focusing on contract software engineering integration for Intergraph’s Fortune 500 accounts. Database technologies were key components of these applications focusing on Informix, Oracle and Sybase System-10 (the predecessor to Microsoft SQL Server). These databases were typically integrated with Intergraph graphics data for bill of materials extraction, product design viewing, redline and approval. Significant software engineering achievements during this period included “workflow design and development using C++ and Visual Basic”, “process design using IDEF modeling“, “expert systems design and development using Prolog“, “DOD specification project management”, “Microsoft NT workstation development” and “ISO 9000 certification”.

With Bonner’s transition to Microsoft Corporation in 1994, he began an aggressive 2-year consulting effort with Promus Hotel Corporation (now  Hilton Hotels) to design, develop and deploy the first Microsoft Windows-based Property Management System on SQL Server. Leading a team of 70 developers, testers and product designers the team deployed, on-time, a Visual Basic and Visual C++ based application called System 21 – now deployed widely in all Hilton Hotel properties. Significant software engineering achievements during this period included “macro-based workflow wizards for automating sequential application tasks” and “GUI-based user interface designed to support minimal user-training“.

At MGM MIRAGE Mr. Bonner’s software engineering organization took advantage of cloud-based applications using high-level programming tools such as .NET and CRM scripting which eliminate the need for complex and time consuming middle-tier and specialized module development. These approaches changed the software engineering landscape dramatically by providing quick time to market with robust hardware-scalable architectures.