Andy Stanford-Clark

Andrew (Andy) James Stanford-Clark FBCS, CITP is a British information technology research engineer, specialising in telemetry and publish/subscribe messaging. He leads a research team at IBM, and is a Member of the IBM Academy of Technology, and IBM Master Inventor. He is also a visiting professor at Newcastle University, and a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Peer Review College. He regularly gives talks about his profession.

Stanford-Clark attended Stockport Grammar School, Cheshire, and University of East Anglia, Norwich. He holds a BSc in Computing Studies and Mathematics from the University of East Anglia. Stanford-Clark also holds a Ph.D. in Parallel Computing: Parallel Paradigms and their Implementation from the University of East Anglia which he achieved in 1991. In 2006, Stanford-Clark became a Fellow of the British Computer Society and Chartered IT Professional.

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

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 2010 he became Chief Technology Officer 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, as of 2014 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 located at Hursley House near Winchester, Hampshire.

In 2015 he appeared in University Challenge on BBC2.

In 1999, Stanford-Clark collaborated with Arlen Nipper to author the first version of the MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol. MQTT is a specialised protocol enabling telemetry 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 system via MQTT to Twitter, a popular microblogging site.