Education
This work formed the basis of his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation at the University of Michigan and was the foundation for LDAP, a standards-based version of DIXIE for both clients and servers.
This work formed the basis of his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation at the University of Michigan and was the foundation for LDAP, a standards-based version of DIXIE for both clients and servers.
The main purpose was to handle situations that the X.500 protocol suite could not address. X.500 directories list network resources to make finding them and using them easier for network administrators and users. Unfortunately, accessing X.500 records has required a full-blown X.500 server.
There was no such thing as an X.500 client.
This led Howes to co-create DIXIE, a directory client for X.500 directories (as well as contribute significant enhancements to improve performance of the Quipu directory). The first publicly available version of LDAP was published in 1993.
In 1996, after joining Netscape as directory server architect, Howes was named one of the Top 25 Network Technology Drivers by Network Computing magazine. Howes was also named a Netscape Fellow, Netscape"s highest engineering honor, and was promoted to Chief Technology Officer of Netscape"s Server Products Division.
In 1999, shortly after America Online acquired Netscape, Howes left America Online to co-found Loudcloud with Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and In Sik Rhee.
In 2002, Loudcloud shifted businesses and was renamed Opsware. At Loudcloud & Opsware Tim held the positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. In 2005, Howes was named a "Top 25 Chief Technology Officer"s of 2005" by InfoWorld magazine. In 2007 Opsware was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.65 billion, and Howes became Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Himachal Pradesh Software.
In October 2008, Howes left Hewlett-Packard to co-found RockMelt with Eric Vishria.
In August 2013, Howes joined Yahoo when Rockmelt was acquired by Yahoo. He left the company in December, 2014.
Howes also serves on the board of directors of Blue Coat Systems.