Andrew James Stanford-Clark is a British information technology research engineer, specialising in

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

and publish/subscribe messaging. In July 2017 he was appointed IBM CTO for UK and Ireland Previously, he led a research team at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. He is a Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, an IBM Master Inventor and

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

. He also serves on the

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British UK Research Councils, Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical scienc ...

(EPSRC)

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

college and regularly delivers public talks.

Education

Stanford-Clark was educated at

Stockport Grammar School Stockport Grammar School is a co-educational private day school in Stockport, England. Founded in 1487 by Sir Edmund Shaa, a former Lord Mayor of London, it is the second oldest in the North of England, after Lancaster Royal Grammar School, ...

, Cheshire, and the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

, Norwich. He holds a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(BSc) degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from the

(UEA) and completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

parallel computing Parallel computing is a type of computing, computation in which many calculations or Process (computing), processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. ...

at UEA in 1991.

Career

Stanford-Clark joined

in 1991 in the Communications Software group. Stanford-Clark performed a number of roles within IBM, focusing primarily on parallel processing and pervasive

messaging A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...

. When he started his job, his manager offered him the career advice that “there’s only one person who REALLY cares about your career, and that's you”. In 2010 he became Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Smart Energy Technologies, as part of IBM's smarter planet strategy, based on his background in pervasive messaging. Stanford-Clark has been granted 11 patents and, has 45 pending, as well as 30 additional invention disclosures published in IBM Technology Journal and IP.com. Stanford-Clark has also taken an active role in mentoring others and played a part in accelerating innovation, highlighted by his involvement in an IBM student scheme called Extreme Blue. Stanford-Clark leads the pervasive and advanced messaging technologies research group. The group works to further IBM's Smarter Planet initiative and is based at

Hursley House Hursley House is an 18th-century Queen Anne style mansion in Hursley, near Winchester in the English county of Hampshire. The building is Grade II* listed. History The Hursley estate was bought by William Heathcote, MP from the daughters of ...

near

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, Hampshire.

Telemetry

In 1999, Stanford-Clark collaborated with Arlen Nipper to author the first version of the

MQ Telemetry Transport MQTT is a lightweight, publish–subscribe, machine-to-machine network protocol for message queue/ message queuing service. It is designed for connections with remote locations that have devices with resource constraints or limited network ba ...

(MQTT) protocol. MQTT is a specialised protocol enabling

or lightweight sensor and mobile systems to provide information to computer programs via a publish/subscribe mechanism. Stanford-Clark gained media attention for this in the late 2000s by connecting his

home automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home. A home automation system will monitor and/or control home attributes such as lighting, climate, entertainment systems, and appliances. It may also include home security such ...

system via MQTT to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Awards and honours

In 2002 Stanford-Clark became a member of IBM Academy of Technology and was recognised as an IBM Master Inventor. He became an IBM Distinguished Engineer in 2007. In 2006, Stanford-Clark became a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

British Computer Society image:Maurice Vincent Wilkes 1980 (3).jpg, Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957. The British Computer Society (BCS), branded BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, since 2009, is a professional body and a learned ...

(FBCS) and Chartered IT Professional (CITP). He was appointed an IBM Master Inventor and has given

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

talks.Innovation Begins at Home
at TEDx In 2015 he appeared in

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanford-Clark, Andy Living people People educated at Stockport Grammar School Alumni of the University of East Anglia IBM employees British computer scientists Fellows of the British Computer Society British software engineers Researchers in distributed computing Year of birth missing (living people)