Todays telecommunications network is woven largely from fiber
optics, glass threads that carry thousands of times more information
than copper wires. The key to expanding this capacity even further lies
in a technology called wavelength division multiplexing, which sends
multiple signals down the same fiber, using different colors of light.
WDM requires a sophisticated switch to direct multispectral traffic
and thats just what Jagdeep Singh created at his 1998 startup,
Lightera Networks. Their invention, called the Core Director, was deemed
so critical to WDM that last spring, optical networking company Ciena
bought Singhs year-and-a-half-old startup for $500 million.
Born in New Delhi to the family of a globe-trotting diplomat, Singh
landed in the United States and enrolled at the University of Maryland
at 15. By 20 he was working for Hewlett-Packard and getting an introduction
to telecommunications networking, a field primed for an explosion of
demand.
Jagdeep Singh is a prototypical networking entrepreneur who
is brilliant, shrewd, and very secretive. In 1993, he started AirSoft,
which made software to improve the performance of wireless networks.
He also co-founded a number of companies including Lightera Networks,
which was acquired by CIENA Corporation in 1999 for $550 million, and
OnFibre Communications. He was also a partner at venture capital firm
InterWest Partners.
Two of his first three companies were network equipment makers.
His fourth, Zepton Networks, is another one and has changed their name
to Infinera optical solutions. Before starting his fourth venture Infinera,
he was cofounder and CEO of OnFiber Communications, a telecommunications
carrier deploying next generation fiber optic network.
Before founding OnFiber in 1999, Jagdeep was president and general
manager of Ciena Corporation's Core Switching Division (CSD) and served
as a director of Ciena Corporation. He joined Ciena, a leader in the
optical communications equipment market, after the acquisition of Lightera
Networks. At Lightera, he served as president and CEO and led the company
from startup to a leadership position in the market for optical switching
equipment for telecommunications networks.
Prior to founding Lightera, Jagdeep was a venture partner at
the venture capital firm InterWest Partners, focusing on investments
in the data communications and telecommunications sectors. Before joining
InterWest, Jagdeep was vice-president, technology strategy at Shiva
Corp. He joined Shiva following its acquisition of AirSoft, Inc., where
he was president and CEO. Prior to founding AirSoft, Jagdeep held technical
and marketing positions at Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.