NetDimensions Names New Chief Technology Officer
LMS Provider Taps Robert Lowe to Lead Technology Development of Learning Management System Solutions for Global Companies
Hong Kong, February 17, 2005 – NetDimensions Limited, a global, enterprise-class learning management system (LMS) provider, today announced that it has promoted senior architect Robert Lowe to serve as its chief technology officer. Lowe will replace Ray Ruff, a co-founder of the company, who takes on additional challenges as NetDimensions’ first chief information officer.
The promotion will elevate Lowe, who has been instrumental in NetDimensions’ technical development efforts since December 2000, while allowing Ruff more time to focus on the operational side of the business, continue to work with major global clients and develop new business strategies. Ruff will continue to have strategic input and guidance into the company’s technology vision.
"Robert is a perfect fit for this role," said NetDimensions CIO Ray Ruff. "He possesses remarkable technical skills and creative vision. He has worked on every version of our EKP learning management system over the last four years. His project leadership has resulted in the delivery of robust and effective technical solutions for clients worldwide and accounts for much of our success today. His continued involvement will be critical to our plans for LMS innovation and market expansion going forward."
In his new role, Lowe will report to Ruff and assume responsibility as policy maker for all technical issues relating to product development, maintenance and support. Specifically, Lowe will ensure that all technologies developed and deployed for the NetDimensions Enterprise Knowledge Platform, a powerful and scalable multilingual LMS used by more than 100 organizations worldwide, conform to standards and meet the functionality demands of leading-edge global clients.
"NetDimensions and I share a willingness to take feedback from our partners and clients on what they would like to see in the products we provide. I look forward to continuing to work with clients on addressing their business and learning issues with our technology solutions," said Lowe. "Our software’s underlying architecture allows us to be extremely responsive to these requests and is a primary reason that NetDimensions wins the business of global companies seeking flexible and scalable multilingual solutions."
Prior to joining NetDimensions in December of 2000, Lowe worked for gorillasia.com, a portal for Internet professionals in Asia that encompassed content management, community and e-commerce functions. He also served as chief software engineer for Asia 2000, where he developed and maintained a state-of-the-art text-retrieval engine and CD-ROM publications for clients such as the World Bank, South China Morning Post, and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Lowe also installed and maintained Hong Kong's first PhonePass system (which uses speech recognition technology to test spoken English by telephone) in partnership with Ordinate Corporation.
In the last six months, Lowe has completed assignments in China, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Dubai, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, The United Kingdom and The Netherlands. A keen supporter of 'open' systems, Lowe co-founded the Hong Kong Java User Group in 2000 with the mission to promote the acceptance and adoption of Java-based technologies. He remains an active member of the group’s management committee.
Lowe received a master’s degree in computing from Cambridge University in 1995. He earned a bachelors degree in mathematics and computing from Oxford University in 1994, which was followed with a master’s degree.