Joel Christner
Chief Technology Officer, Architect, Open Source Developer
I build infrastructure software and developer tools, with deep expertise in distributed systems, messaging and networking, artificial intelligence, data storage and retrieval, and cloud-native architectures. MS Computer Science from Columbia University. .NET Foundation member with 13M+ package downloads. BJJ black belt. Based in California.
Open Source
Embeddable async RESTful HTTP/HTTPS server for .NET with HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, OpenAPI, and WebSocket support.
High-adoption .NET Foundation TCP client/server library with message framing, SSL/TLS, sync/async APIs, and fast disconnect detection.
Simple, fast WebSocket server and client library for .NET, with a large installed base now folding into WatsonWebserver.
Property graph database with JSON data, relationships, vectors, REST, dashboard, SDKs, and Model Context Protocol integration.
S3-compatible object storage server for local, private-cloud, test, and controlled-placement storage deployments.
Thread-safe tenant-aware ledgering library for auditable debit/credit workflows, pending entries, commits, and SQL-backed deployments.
Light, fast library for breaking text, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and images into atoms for analysis and AI pipelines.
Reverse proxy and API gateway for .NET with routing, failover, rate limits, custom auth, and embeddable or standalone deployment.
AssistantHub
Self-hosted RAG platform for document-grounded AI assistants, vector embeddings, hybrid search, crawlers, tools, and dashboards.
RAG persistence and retrieval layer for embeddings, source content, metadata, hashes, multi-tenant filtering, and hybrid search.
Multi-tenant platform for turning text, tables, images, code, and other semantic cells into chunks, summaries, and embeddings.
Model-runner virtualization platform for OpenAI, vLLM, Gemini, and Ollama APIs with tenant isolation and load balancing.
Workflow automation and dataflow platform with tenant-scoped flows, distributed workers, artifact runtimes, OpenAPI, MCP, and dashboard.
JSON document store with automatic schema detection, SQL-like queries, indexing, REST APIs, and multiple SQL backends.
High-performance inverted index and full-text search library with standalone server, REST API, dashboard, scoring, and CLI tooling.
Lightweight .NET implementation of JSON-RPC 2.0, MCP, and A2A protocols with TCP, stdio, HTTP, and WebSocket transports.
Embed local AI models in .NET applications or expose Ollama/OpenAI-compatible inference and embeddings endpoints.
Local-first chat server and dashboard for Ollama, OpenAI, and compatible model runners with tenants, history, feedback, and admin tooling.
Cross-platform terminal profile manager for launching grouped tab workspaces with per-tab shells, scripts, fonts, and color schemes.
Load balancer and model orchestration system for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible infrastructure, superseded by Conductor.
FastAPI-like C# API framework now integrated into WatsonWebserver, adding routing, middleware, health checks, and OpenAPI ergonomics.
Workload placement and virtualization platform for exactly-one resource ownership patterns in distributed systems.
Publications & Patents
Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services
Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Fundamentals
Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals
Patents
Dozens of patents filed and issued in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data management, distributed systems, compression, serverless computing, and cloud-native architectures.
Industry Leadership
Senior Distinguished Engineer
Office of the CTO, previously leading research on AI, data management, next generation storage, and distributed systems. Currently helping modernize one of the world's largest technology companies with AI.
Technical Leader
Cross-product architecture for WAN optimization, application acceleration, and data center switching platforms.
Multiple Startups & Exits
Leadership in multiple ventures acquired by Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Sysco Foods, Rocket Lawyer, and McAfee.
.NET Foundation Member
Repository and package owner, author, and contributor for the .NET open source ecosystem.
SNIA DNA Data Storage Alliance
Chair of Standard CODECs and Rosetta Stone working groups. Authored the first two standards on DNA data storage.