Mark Spencer (computer engineer)
Template:Short description Template:More footnotes needed Template:Infobox person Mark Spencer (born April 8, 1977) is an American computer engineer and is the original author of the GTK+-based instant messaging client Gaim (which has since been renamed to Pidgin), the L2TP daemon l2tpd and the Cheops Network User Interface.
Mark Spencer is also the creator of Asterisk, a Linux-based open-sourced PBX. He is the founder, chairman and CTO of Digium, an open-source telecommunications supplier most notable for its development and sponsorship of Asterisk. Spencer shifted from CEO to chairman and CTO in early 2007.
Early life
Spencer was born and raised in Auburn, Alabama.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> He attended Auburn University where both his parents were professors.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In high school, he was mentored by another Auburn professor, Thaddeus Roppel,<ref name=":1" /> and Mark Smith, co-founder of Adtran.<ref name=":0" />
Career
As a computer engineering major at Auburn University, Mark was the original author of the GTK+-based instant messaging client Gaim (which has since been renamed to Pidgin), the L2TP daemon l2tpd and the Cheops Network User Interface. He also co-oped at Huntsville-based networking and telecommunications corporation Adtran, and started a Linux technical support business. Unable to afford a PBX for his new company, he created the Asterisk™ Linux-based open-source PBX and founded Digium Inc, an open-source telecommunications supplier. Mark served as CEO, Chairman, and CTO as Digium and Asterisk spearheaded the global telecom revolution that allowed businesses and developers to build affordable, scalable communication systems without the need for expensive proprietary hardware or software, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Today Asterisk continues to be the world’s leading open-source framework for integrating real-time, multi-protocol communications applications.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
When Digium was sold in 2018, Mark focused his software skills on the aviation industry. As an FAA-certified air transport pilot, Mark knew that aerospace avionics suffered some of the same oligopolistic problems that had plagued telecom: reduced competition, high costs, and high barriers to entry. Mark founded Avilution, LLC to create Android apps including QuickWeather and AviationMaps. AviationMaps was later spun off to FlightPro, then DroidEFB.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Adapting a similar strategy as Asterisk, he developed the eXtensible Flight System (XFS), a modular open-system avionics software architecture. XFS has integrated whole avionics suites in civil light aircraft such as the Zenith CH750,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> customized flight test instrumentation in developmental eVTOLs such as the Beta Technologies Ava XC technology demonstrator, and contributed to an FAA-approved supplemental type certificate for integrating a replacement air data computer into the popular Eclipse 500 light business jet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Since 2020 the U.S. Dept of Defense has become Avilution’s largest customer, as XFS has proven an ideal framework for implementing modular open-system approaches (MOSA) to achieve higher interoperability, faster upgrades, and lower costs for military avionics and mission systems.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, Avilution received the DoD MOSA Summit Innovation Challenge Award for “innovation with the potential to solve our nation’s most critical MOSA challenges.”<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024, Mark Spencer and others authored a paper, “Avilution’s eXtensible Flight System (XFS)–Making Modular Open-System Approaches Practical”, selected for both Best in Session for Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) and Best in Track for Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA). In addition to that, Avilution was also honored to be further selected for Third Place in the overall Best of Conference awards for the best of the 235 academic papers submitted to the 2024 Digital Avionics Systems Conference.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>