Jeff Gerhardt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeff Gerhardt is an American teacher, inventor, and entrepreneur. His work includes the development of a CAD system, one of the first PC-based point-of-purchase systems, the Tandy Color Computer, and the award-winning “KidCam™” Internet Video Security System.
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[edit] Education & early career
Gerhardt attended Illinois State University, studying marine biology, but later computer science. From the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, he was employed in graphic arts, but continued working on software. He focused on developing programs for Tandy computers, spending several years as part of the software-development community that grew up around the Tandy products.
Eventually, Gerhardt took a job with Tandy, customizing software for midwest business users and concentrating on Tandy's Radio Shack Color Computer, known to its fans as the COCO. Originally designed as a cartridge-game system and 64K home computer, the COCO was a great success, having sold over six million units in its first few years. Gerhardt created a vast amount of software for the Color Computer, and, as consumer demand grew for peripherals, the COCO was used more as a computer and less as a game-player.
Early in 1983, Gerhardt started his own software-development company, primarily for COCO applications. He was acquainted with the Motorola 68 family of processors (the COCO used the 6809E), and saw an opportunity to develop software on the COCO that could ported for use on other 68-type CPUs. Over time, he focused this effort on developing portable code for a CAD/CAM system, joining a group of developers with similar interests. This group, and the companies with whom they were affiliated, released a series of successful CAD technologies. However, in late 1985, with the release of the IBM PC-based “Auto CAD”, Gerhardt's group began to lose market share; the group dispersed and the code base was sold to Computervision.
[edit] BBSs & ISPs
One of Gerhardt's jobs at Tandy was assistant Sysop at the Tandy COCO SIG (special interest group) at Compuserve. He never lost interest in this on-line business, and though he left Tandy, he stayed active in the SIGs that serviced the users of Tandy computers. After the CAD code base was sold, he redirected his company toward the BBS and telecommunications markets.
BBSs, scaled-down versions of on-line services covering a very narrow niche, were the predecessors of the ISP community and the BBS magazine Boardwatch is credited with motivating the development of ISPs. Gerhardt concurrently operated three successful BBSs from his home office in Bloomingdale, Illinois.
Active in the early stages of the commercial Internet era, Gerhardt was involved with the creation or management of three different ISPs, and was on the board of WWA — WorldWide Access (now Verio), one of the first ISPs in the U.S. While Director of Business Development at WWA, he spearheaded such innovations as 5ESS-VDS (Virtual Dial System), DSL deployment and KidCam. He was executive vice-president for Pinnacle Communications, a pure DSL ISP up until 2000. Gerhardt is presently involved in a new network services company.
[edit] Broadcasting
In the early and mid-1990s, Gerhardt was a regular guest on the Al and/or Ed Show (featuring Alan Lerner and Ed Curran) on WLS radio – “The Big 89” – in Chicago. Taking part in a weekly technology segment, he talked about anything from gadgets to trends. Later he worked with Ed Curran as a producer and on a web site called “technogadgets” which was syndicated as a bimonthly segment on ABC radio and TV affiliates. Gerhardt was also a frequent guest on “Ken Rutkowski's Week Ender TechTalk Show”, also broadcast on WLS. He continued as a technical-information resource on such issues as UNIX/Linux®, Y2K, Internet telephony and video, and Broadband applications, and followed Rutkowski when he moved his show from broadcast to webcast.
Late in 1997, Kevin Hill and Gerhardt decided to take the Linux segments they had been doing for Rutkowski's show and create a stand-alone entity. The Linux Show was soon in testing as a daughter program of Rutkowski's TTalk webcast. By mid-1998, the show appeared regularly on Tuesday nights. Prompted by TechTalk's sponsorship affiliation with Microsoft, he and Hill left the TTalk network in 1999 for greater autonomy.
[edit] The Linux Show
Gerhardt was first exposed to Linux on Intel in 1995 as an alternative to Sun Solaris for web hosting technology in the ISP industry. As a user and proponent of Linux ever since, Gerhardt has become an advocate for the world-wide Linux community. As an outlet for that advocacy Gerhardt, along with his partner Kevin Hill, created The Linux Show, an internet based radio talk show. The Linux Show, known as TLS to its listeners, attracts large audiences to the web-cast targeted primarily at hard-core users and employees of Linux companies. TLS was the longest-running and most successful web-cast in the Linux and Open Source world. TLS is presently on hiatus while developing a NPO network from which to broadcast.
[edit] Current activities
At present, Gerhardt teaches for the Youth Community Technology Program with Rayshawn Nowlin, in Chicago, teaching inner-city youth about computer technology. YCTP is a project of the Community Education Department of the Chicago based Non Profit organization KACS (Korean American Community Services). In his spare time he teaches technology classes at Northwestern Business College. He is still a regular speaker at Internet or Linux-related conferences. Always the entrepreneur, Gerhardt is also now involved in the development of another Internet start up business: a hybrid Internet broadcast entity.
Gerhardt is also the very over protective father of a 15 year old daughter, Liz Gerhardt.
