Vast® Adds Benedict Elliott Smith as Chief Architect
Austin, TX (PRWEB) February 29, 2016 -- Vast, the big data-as-a-service platform for autos and real estate, today announced the addition of Benedict Elliott Smith as Chief Architect. Elliott Smith joins Vast from the Apache Cassandra project and brings invaluable big data and distributed systems experience to help Vast advance its focus on using data and analytics to provide unmatched consumer experiences for big purchases such as cars and homes.
“Benedict is an amazing addition to our team, he’s a big data rock star who has had a profound impact on Cassandra,” said Graham Sanderson, Vast CTO. “We are in a major expansion mode with our solutions and the capabilities of our technology. Benedict will help power our data scientists to continue improving the consumer experience and the value end users get from Vast.”
As Chief Architect, Elliott Smith will lead innovation in the design of Vast’s proprietary software platforms. With over 10 years big data experience, he is an expert in performance, distributed systems, concurrency, correctness and algorithm/data structure design. He comes to Vast from the Apache Cassandra project where he oversaw efforts to deliver a faster, more reliable distributed database. Prior to Apache Cassandra, he managed financial data for GSA Capital, a leading London hedge fund. He received a 1st Class bachelors degree from Oxford University.
"Vast is leading the industry in transforming the most complex consumer marketplaces, helping people make better decisions when it really matters,” said Elliott Smith. “This is an exciting area of innovation, with immense technical challenges, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it."
Elliott Smith joins the company on the heels of its recent announcement of $14 million investment from Capital One Growth Ventures and continued growth and adoption of its CarStory.com consumer marketplace that utilizes the Vast data platform to understand consumer intent and match each shopper with the right vehicle.
The automotive industry generates massive amounts of data every single year. To date, very little has been done to unlock the insights contained in this data. With the CarStory platform, Vast is bringing big data to the forefront of the consumer and dealer experience. Elliott Smith accelerates its ability to expand the largest automotive big data platform in the industry.
For nearly 10 years, Vast has been bringing big-data intelligence to large-ticket purchases. First for dealers, and now also for consumers, Vast creates unrivaled products that leverage its database to create quality leads and interactions. CarStory, which is the industry’s first, largest and only mobile-first vehicle discovery platform, now curates over 3.5 million unique vehicles.
About Vast
Vast is a big data-as-service platform that provides consumer experiences —powered by data and analytics — for big purchases in automotive and real estate. Founded in 2005, Vast is the premier provider of big data solutions for many of the Global 1000’s largest automotive and real estate businesses. Learn more at Vast.com.
Laura Beck, Vast, http://Vast.com, +1 (512) 786-1098, [email protected]
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