Light Speed Comet: Practical HTTP Push Scalability

Michael Carter has always been driven to understand what makes scalable systems tick, particularly real-time, browser-facing systems. He is especially focused on standardizing a protocol for Comet (HTTP Push) and is working closely with the HTML 5.0 specification leads to ensure that all developers can benefit from his research on Comet and real-time Web infrastructures.

Michael leads the development on Orbited, the Open Source Comet daemon. In his work with Orbited he has made significant advances not only in backporting future standards to today’s browsers, but also in experimenting with various server architectures for real-time applications. Much of his involvement with the project has centered on creating scalable Comet technology and providing solid integration points with today’s synchronous, request/response-based technologies.

Michael previously worked at Brand Up Inc. as the lead developer of the Brand Up’s Mail Up marketing suite. He lead both architecture and development to create a versatile marketing tool, featuring a tight web-integration with a fully real-time analytics web display.

He honed his talent for scalable and distributed system as an architect for Idealistics Inc. where he designed and lead development of their flagship product SocialWorks 2.0. He transformed the product from an initial prototype to an enterprise-class case management software package for the social services sector.

Michael frequently speaks at conferences, participates in drafting standards, and interacts closely with Open Source communities. His recent speaking engagements include OSCON, Pycon, AjaxExperience, and AjaxWorld. Michael is also an active CometDaily blogger and has written several articles on topics related to scaling Comet and Web frameworks.

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