Bassam Tabbara is Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Symform. Bassam developed his first computer game at the age of 11 and sold his first software application (a utility that removed the first generation of computer viruses) at the age of 16. An avid technologist, he has worked on many diverse projects relating to web platforms, databases, semantic web, operating systems, distributed systems, and systems management.
Bassam has always gravitated toward startup opportunities where he could develop new technologies and transform them into successful products. Prior to founding Symform, Bassam was a Senior Engineer at Microsoft. Upon joining Microsoft Research in 1995, he co-invented a web platform for Microsoft’s early forays into the Internet. He successfully transitioned the technology into Sidewalk.com, developing and shipping multiple versions of the popular local search and advertising web service, which eventually was sold to CitySearch.com. The underlying web platform continues to be used today by MSN, MSNBC, and Microsoft.com.
Applying lessons learned from building and running large-scale services, Bassam returned to Microsoft Research, where he co-founded a small team that was passionate about reducing the complexity and cost of operating large-scale IT systems. After a successful prototype and senior executive endorsement, the project was transitioned into the Windows division where it became the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). DSI eventually spanned three flagship products: Windows, Visual Studio, and System Center. Bassam served as a lead architect and was responsible for implementing the model-based technology (SML) at the core of DSI. While consulting with Microsoft executives on strategy and garnering industry support, Bassam became the original author of the SML specification that, along with 11 other major industry players, was submitted to the W3C for standardization.
Bassam is a co-inventor on 24 U.S. and international patents. He received his B.S in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida.
