ISS Technology Update, Vol. 7 Number 6

ISS Technology Update Volume 7, Number 6
4
Meet the Expert—Scott Faasse
Each month, this article focuses on one of ISS’s important technical experts who
help drive innovation and quality in HP ISS products. This month, the focus is on
Scott Faasse (fəs-sāy), a BIOS Developer in his 7
th
year at HP. Scott’s managers,
James Bodner and Kevin Depew, selected Scott because of his technical
leadership, expertise, and passion for innovation. They pointed out that Scott has
been a major technical resource for the System Firmware Development Team.
Currently, Scott is one of the key technical contributors for ISS, making important
contributions across the product line. He is one of the leading experts in power
management technologies, system firmware architecture, and Intel processor
technologies. His influence in areas of power management and power efficiency
are extremely important, as these have become key customer criteria for buying
ProLiant servers.
For a healthy distraction from work, Scott enjoys road cycling and sailing—
challenging sports that require tactics and teamwork. Scott even builds HAM
radios for a more leisurely distraction. Scott and Kim, his wife for almost 8 years,
have a “very energetic” 3 year old son named Jacob.
Below are excerpts from an interview with Scott, as well as a question posed to
James Bodner and Kevin Depew.
Why did you decide to become an engineer?
At C.E. Ellison High School in Killeen, Texas, I excelled in physics and calculus so
I turned away from wanting to be a pilot and started looking toward careers that
relied heavily on those disciplines. I can’t remember the reason why I picked
Electrical Engineering. Likely, it was because I really loved the space program.
The movie Apollo 13 inspired me because it was a true story of engineers who
used their minds to solve really complicated problems.
What is your favorite invention?
My favorite invention is the ProLiant Power Regulator feature. It started off as a
wild idea to have the BIOS manage processor P-states in real time out-of-the-box
so that all customers could benefit from power management regardless of the OS
they use. I knew immediately that it could be implemented, but it would require a whole new infrastructure within the firmware
itself before we could productize it. Reliability and flexibility were paramount if the feature were to have a serious impact. The
result, which began as a very simple idea of embedding dynamic processor power management into the BIOS, has since
expanded into a feature set that includes many different components required for useful server power management.
Name: Scott Faasse
Title: BIOS Developer – ISS Platform
Engineering
Years at HP: 7
U.S. Patents Pending:
• Depew, Kevin; Faasse, Scott.
Method of Managing Firmware
Revisions for Blades in an
Infrastructure
• Bonola, Tom; Depew, Kevin;
Faasse, Scott; Harsany, Scott. BIOS-
based Systems And Methods Of
Processor Power Management
University/Degree
• Texas A&M University
Bachelor of Science Electrical
Engineering
How much customer input goes into the design of your products?
Customer input is what drives our designs. Where customer input isn’t possible, we rely heavily on our experiences with our
customers to make the best design decision possible. It seems like every day someone asks the question “Does this make sense
for our customers?”
What must HP do to remain the leader in industry-standard servers?
HP ProLiant servers typically use the same components that are available to our competitors. What sets HP apart is our passion
for customer satisfaction and the work we put into creating a product that fits their needs. HP must continue to look for ways to
build upon the innovation that is done by our partners. It is not sufficient for us to create the same product as our competitors.
We must lead the industry by creating reliable and innovative products that solve the evolving problems that our customers
face, before they face them. In order to accomplish this, I feel that HP must continue to grow engineering excellence in the field
of computing technology.