Clifford Barney is an experienced software architect and entrepreneur, having worked in the E-Commerce space for 10 years. He founded Gossamer, a pioneering E-Commerce consulting firm in the Northern Virginia area that specialized in developing back-end E-Commerce software for online merchants. He was the architect of StarVisor, a leading E-Commerce engine for small businesses in the late 90's, from which several key innovations emerged, primarily in web-based authentication and database encryption. In recent years, he has been developing a third-generation E-Commerce engine based on the open-source LAMPS stack (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP). He has also been heavily involved in architecting and developing solutions for NetCentric applications for sharing Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information, geospatial visualization of complex data and developing web-based applications for interfacing with SOA-based satellite gateways for command and control of remote sensors. Mr. Barney is currently working on a book about E-Commerce and has several patents pending on encryption, data modeling and E-Commerce.

Prior to embarking on his Internet career, Mr. Barney was a officer in the U.S. Navy for eight years, serving as an aviator in tactical jets, primarily in the EA-6B radar jammer. A graduate of the U.S. Navy Electronic Warfare school, he was a specialist in the then-emerging field of Information Warfare, especially in the disruption of enemy sensor and communications networks in the post-Soviet era. He also served as a Program Manager at the National Security Agency, managing the development and field testing of several highly classified weapons systems. He received several awards from the Director of the National Security Agency for his work on several high-visibility projects.

Mr. Barney has a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Maryland.