Bob Metcalfe
January 16, 2004 , 3 PM
Seminar at the University
of Maine
First floor of
This VC is investing in networks,
all seven kinds.
Bob Metcalfe
UMaine Honorary Doctor
Venture Capitalist at Polaris Venture Partners
Abstract
You already know that innovation
continues unabated. But let me talk about where we high-tech venture
capitalists are investing. Networking, again, of course, but which
kinds? All seven. Enterprise LANs
including especially my favorite, Ethernet.
Short Biography of Bob Metcalfe
Dr. Robert M.
Metcalfe is a high-tech venture capitalist at Polaris Venture Partners in
Metcalfe is a
director of Avistar, Ember, IDC, IDG, Kelmscott, MIT, Narad, Pop!Tech, St.
Mark’s School, and MIT’s Technology Review Magazine. He is Chairman of Paratek Microwave in
Nashua, New Hampshire.
Metcalfe had
three careers before becoming a venture capitalist:
While an
engineer-scientist (1965-1979), Metcalfe helped build the early Internet. In 1973, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center, he invented Ethernet, the local-area networking (LAN) standard on which
he shares four patents. Now, 30 years
later, more than 100 million new Ethernet connections are shipped annually for
$10 billion.
While an
entrepreneur-executive (1979-1990), Metcalfe founded 3Com Corporation, the
billion-dollar networking company where at various times he was Chairman, CEO,
division general manager (GM) of software, GM netstations, GM hardware, VP
engineering, VP sales, and VP marketing.
While a
publisher-pundit (1990-2000), Metcalfe was CEO of IDG's InfoWorld Publishing
Company (1992-1995). For eight years, he
wrote an Internet column read weekly by over 500,000 information technologists. He spoke often; appeared on radio, TV, and
the web; and produced conferences including ACM97, ACM1, Agenda, Pop!Tech, and
Vortex. His books include Packet
Communication, Beyond Calculation, and Internet Collapses.
Metcalfe was
born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946. In
1964, he graduated from Bay Shore (Long Island) High School. In 1969, he graduated from MIT with two
bachelors degrees, in electrical engineering and in industrial management. He received a masters degree in applied
mathematics from Harvard in 1970 and his 1973 Harvard PhD dissertation was
entitled Packet Communication. Metcalfe
was consulting associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford
1976-1983. He was a 1991-92 visiting fellow
at the University of Cambridge, England.
In 2003, Metcalfe was elected a Life Member of the MIT Corporation.
Metcalfe is
grateful for his many honors. For
example, in 1980, he received the Grace Murray Hopper Award from the
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
In 1988, he received the Alexander Graham Bell Medal from the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
In 1995, Metcalfe was elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. In 1996, he received the
IEEE's Medal of Honor. In 1997, he was
elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
In 1999, he was elected to the International Engineering
Consortium. In 2003, Metcalfe won the
Marconi International Fellowship and was inducted into the prestigious Bay
Shore High School Hall of Fame. He holds
three honorary doctorates.
After 22 years
in Silicon Valley, the Metcalves now live in Boston and Maine.
Email: metcalfe@polarisventures.com