Roger E. Billings

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Roger Billings

Dr. Roger E. Billings
Born 1948
Provo, Utah
Nationality American
Occupation Scientist, Entrepreneur
Religious beliefs Christian
Spouse Tonja Anderson

Roger Evan Billings (born 1948) is an American businessman, "inventioneer" and developer of high-tech products. Billings is best known for his pioneering work in the computer industry. He is also widely regarded as a developer of hydrogen energy.

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[edit] Computer Networking

Billings is known for inventing a method of sharing data on a computer network known as Functionally Structured Distribution. Claiming that Novel, Inc.'s flagship product - NetWare - infringed his networking patent, Billings brought a lawsuit against Novell, Inc. and Bank of America in 1991, asserting patent infringement. (International Academy of Science v. Novell Corporation, Northern District of California). Eventually Bank of America settled, purchasing a license to use the patented invention. After more than a decade in court and patent office proceedings, the patent term expired.

[edit] Hydrogen Energy

Billings' involvement in hydrogen energy began when he converted a car to run on hydrogen in 1965 as a high school student, which won him a Gold and Silver award at the International Science Fair and a scholarship to Brigham Young University. Billings generated interest in hydrogen technology by demonstrating working prototypes, including buses, forklifts, tractors, and a hydrogen powered home. In 1977, he drove a hydrogen-powered car during the inaugural parade of Jimmy Carter. In 1991, he demonstrated a hydrogen fuel cell car prototype in Philadelphia. An Omni Magazine report on his work in 1982, dubbed him “The Hydrogen Man” (Rose, 1982), and an article in the July 21, 2003 issue of Time Magazine referred to him as "Dr. Hydrogen". (Barlett, Steele 2003). Billings is the author of two books on hydrogen energy technology, Hydrogen from Coal: A Cost Estimation Guidebook (1983) and Hydrogen World View (1991).

[edit] Education

Billings at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1967.
Billings at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1967.

Billings enrolled as a student at Brigham Young University (BYU) in the fall of 1966. As an undergraduate, he received a research grant from the Ford Motor Company and his own lab to continue his studies of the hydrogen-fueled automobile. In the summer of 1972, Billings headed a team from Brigham Young University that won first prize for low emissions at the Urban Vehicle Design Competition held at the General Motors Proving Grounds in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their winning entry was a hydrogen powered Volkswagen.

Billings received his Bachelor of Science degree from BYU in 1974 with a composite major in Physics, Chemistry, and Electrical, Mechanical, and Chemical Engineering.

After his university studies, Billings was selected by Bill Lear, the creator of the Lear Jet, to be his protégé. Lear moved Billings and his young family into the Lear home in Reno, Nevada, where, for nearly a year he shared his knowledge of high-tech entrepreneurship. Although a 1981 article in Forbes Magazine quoted Billings as saying that Lear hired him as an engineer, then changed his mind about letting Billings work on hydrogen research, and that Billings had quit in a huff, other accounts indicate that he left Lear on good terms, taking Lear's advice to continue his research on hydrogen energy (Billings Corp Annual Meeting 1986).

[edit] Business Ventures

Billings has been involved in the development and launch of a number of new technologies. He manufactured one of the first Personal Computers, started the company that developed the "double-sided floppy drive", and launched the Billings Word Processor, which was the forerunner of Word Perfect.

In 1973, Roger Billings founded the Billings Energy Corporation, his first publicly-traded company. It gained worldwide attention with the development of numerous hydrogen vehicle prototypes. Billings also developed hydride-filled hydrogen storage tanks, and a homestead that was hydrogen powered. By 1979, he was working on coal-to-gas conversion plants. (Mother Earth News 1979)

In 1985, Billings sold the Billings Energy Corporation and joined with Dr. Geoffrey K. Pardoe, Chairman, General Technology Systems in London; Dr. Alexei A. Tupolev of the Tupolev Design Bureau in Moscow; Willis Hawkins, President of Lockheed Corporation in California; and Olof Tegström, Founder and President of Tebetron in Sweden, to establish the "International Academy of Science", a not-for-profit organization for the advancement of applied science and scientific education. The International Academy of Science (Academy) operates the International Institute of Science and Technology -- a Graduate School University that offers the Doctor of Research and Master of Research Degrees. Courses offered by the Academy have recently received accreditation, and its online math courses are being utilized by public and private school districts throughout the U.S. (about 300,000 students).


Beginning in 1985, Billings studied as a full time student at the Academy, and received his Doctor of Research Degree in 1991. His doctoral research project resulted in the first automobile to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The vehicle, which is on display at the Academy, converts hydrogen into water and electricity and is more efficient than the internal combustion vehicles Billings had converted during his earlier years. The improved efficiency of the fuel cell made the commercial application of hydrogen cars more feasible. A number of automobile companies are now testing fuel cell powered hydrogen vehicles.


In 1994, Roger Billings founded the WideBand Corporation, one of the first companies to develop a gigabit data rate networking product. WideBand came up with a pre-standard design that could operate over standard Category 5 cable. Later, when IEEE established the 802.3ab workgroup to create a gigabit data rate networking standard, Billings served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Ethernet Alliance and also contributed technical presentations in the development of the standard. WideBand Corporation began to manufacture a standards-based Gigabit Ethernet product that could operate over convention cabling, instead of requiring users to rewire their premises to Category 5e or better cable. WideBand Corporation, of which Roger Billings is President, manufactures high performance networking products in its U.S.-based Gallatin, Missouri factory for government, education, and industry.


Billings established fs-ix Corporation in 1995 to manufacture a commercial line of computer storage products based on the fs-ix network operating system. fs(ix) Servers ship with the software pre-installed, which allows them to be tuned for specific hardware installations, increasing storage and retrieval performance. fs-ix Servers are primarily used in very large data storage applications like Hollywood animations, military applications, and large library projects.


In 2007, Billings launched GoldKey, a computer security product to protect data on computers and computer networks. GoldKey is a USB device that locks access to a local computer, encrypts data stored on the computer's hard drive, and secures communications over the Internet. GoldKey utilizes strong AES encryption to protect user data by providing a method of dual authentication -- a user provides a password but must also possess the device to be able to access sensitive data ("something you know and something you have"). (Conventional security systems authenticate users by requesting a password ["something you know"].)


[edit] References

  1. Barlett, Donald and Steele, James (Jul. 14, 2003), "Hydrogen is in his Dreams", Time Magazine.
  2. Mother Earth News (Mar/Apr, 1979), "Hydrogen, Another Solution to the Energy Crunch", Mother Earth News.
  3. Rose, Kenneth Jon (Jan 1982) Omni (magazine).


[edit] External sources