Today’s 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 that’s 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 Singh’s 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.
