Solarflare Communications was founded by a team of acknowledged experts in the communications industry who have been instrumental in driving the development of IEEE standards as well as leading activities in the Ethernet Alliance.

Ben Charny

Co-Founder and Director of Validation

Ben Charny is responsible for the definition and validation of Solarflare Communications’ products. He co-founded Solarflare Communications in 2001. Formerly, he was Director of Carrier Products at PairGain Technologies including PairGain's market leading HDSL product line and voice and data systems for carriers. Before PairGain, he was with NASA/JPL where he developed integrated rad-hard RF/DSP ASICs for spacecraft and TeraFLOP signal processors. Ben was also with the Ioffe Institute where he conducted semiconductor optics research. He holds a MSEE from Stanford University.

David Clarke

Co-Founder and Senior Hardware Engineer

David Clarke is a Senior Hardware Engineer for Solarflare Communications. In April 2006, David joined the company with the merger of Solarflare and Level 5 Networks. He also co-founded Level 5 Networks in 2002. Formerly David worked at AT&T research laboratories in Cambridge and worked on digital video, ad-hoc radio networking and high-speed wired networking. Before AT&T
Labs, he was at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, designing computer-controlled equipment for the ISIS neutron source and equipment for experimental networks. David is a Chartered Engineer and has a degree in Engineering from Cambridge University.

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Steve Pope, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer

Steve Pope is the CTO for controllers at Solarflare. Previously he co-founded Level 5 Networks and prior to that was a post-doctorate researcher in the field of high-speed networks and operating systems at Olivetti Research Labs, which later became AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge.

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David Riddoch, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Software Architect

David Riddoch is Chief Software Architect of Solarflare Communications. David joined Solarflare with the merger of Solarflare with Level 5 Networks in April 2006. David co-founded Level 5 Networks in July 2002. Previously, David was the architect and lead developer of the software for the CLAN high performance network project at AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. David holds a first class degree in computer science and a PhD. in high performance networking from the University of Cambridge.

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Derek Roberts, PhD

Co-Founder and Vice President, Hardware Architecture

Derek Roberts is responsible for the controller hardware architecture at Solarflare. He co-founded Level 5 Networks in July 2002. Prior to this, Dr. Roberts was the hardware architect for the CLAN high-performance networking project at AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. While at AT&T Labs, he was also responsible for numerous leading-edge hardware developments. Previously, Dr. Roberts headed up application software development at Myriad Solutions. He holds a first class degree in Electrical Sciences and a PhD in Voltage Standards from the University of Cambridge.

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George Zimmerman, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer

George Zimmerman is the CTO for the physical layer (PHY) line of business and founder of Solarflare Communications. He is an acknowledged expert in wireline communications and has been a defining force in the development of 10GBASE-T as well as various DSL technologies. His technical interests focus on communications and signal processing near the fundamental limits, particularly where there are man-made noise sources to be mitigated. As CTO, George is responsible for Solarflare's core physical layer technology development and technical direction of its PHY products. He led the initial formation of the IEEE 10GBASE-T Study Group, with a tutorial on the subject in November 2002, and was a significant contributor throughout the 802.3an standards process. Prior to founding Solarflare, Dr. Zimmerman was with PairGain Technologies, as Chief Scientist and VP of Strategic Planning. He drove basic technology development and standardization for DSL, as well as new market and business development strategy, including mergers and acquisitions. Before PairGain, George was with Caltech and NASA/JPL where he was responsible for signal processing R&D for NASA’s Deep Space Network. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Caltech, and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

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