Best And The Rest

Volume 11 - October 2005


	A conversation with Vish Akella,Chairman, Ample Communications

“Silicon Valley's most successful serial entrepreneurs”

Vish Akella is one of Silicon Valley’s most successful serial entrepreneurs – he has launched several companies that have created path breaking products – the first Ethernet switch, the first Frame Relay node and the first LAN/WAN exchange. Akella and his team also developed the first multi-gigabit routing and switching silicon as well as multi-gigabit ATM switching, video processing and data encryption silicon.

Vish and his team have personally been involved in some of the industry's groundbreaking achievements that have shaped the communications market, and the majority of their designs are still in production.

Prayag met with Vish Akella to understand his recipe for success, which we believe will be a great source of inspiration to technology entrepreneurs as well as professionally managed corporations.

Excerpts from the interview:

On how he became an entrepreneur

Vish joined Trillium as a young professional and had an opportunity to watch and learn from the interactions between the founding team. From then on, he moved to S3, another high tech startup that in turn inspired him to become an entrepreneur.

On choosing the right product idea time after time

Vish has successfully founded several companies, and in his words, what is common to all the ideas is this- the concept is simple but its impact is far reaching.

Take for instance, the latest venture Ample Communications – The company makes frame-processing solutions that integrate several functions onto a single, merchant silicon chip to speed time to market for network system vendors. In traditional chip systems, separate chips perfume these different functions. This requires more space on circuit boards and consumes more power. Ample has designed a single chip that performs many of these different functions, reducing the space and power required. The founding team feels that their idea is not radically new, but better.

On the importance of marketing and communications

Creating a successful product is also about being able to communicate the benefits simply and clearly. For example, while at Kalpana, a company that was sold to Cisco, Vish and his team created a product that became the world’s first Ethernet switch. An important learning for Vish and his team was the importance of articulating the product benefits succinctly and powerfully. Creating a product category called the switch was, in retrospect, a masterstroke.

On the importance of a well-knit team

Every idea is as good as how well it is executed. The importance of a well-knit team to carry the idea through cannot be understated. In fact, it is very interesting to note that the founding team of Ample has stayed together over several years, and have created six successful companies in the past and are on their way to creating the seventh.

Views on India and the Indian market

Vish is optimistic about the potential of India. In fact, Ample Communication’s design and development center is located at Bangalore and the team has done some leading edge work. Vish also has interests in Eduquity and Clearock, companies in the education and direct marketing spaces.

More about Vish Akella

Vish Akella is the Chairman of Ample Communications, a silicon valley based communications start-up. Prior to founding Ample, Vish Akella was founder and CEO of Acclaim Communications. He is a serial entrepreneur who has been instrumental in launching several companies and products including LSI Logic's Networking Division and Kalpana Corp., credited with pioneering the first Ethernet switch. Cisco Systems acquired Kalpana. He has held senior management positions at other start-ups including Trillium and S3. In 1998, Red Herring Magazine selected Vish Akella as one of the Top Ten Entrepreneurs of the year. Akella has more than 20 year of experience in the management and development of high-speed systems, and holds both MSEE and BSEE degrees from San Jose State University.