Asta Networks Inc., a company founded by four University of Washington professors, announced their first external appointment to the board of directors, Dr. Eric Brewer, chief scientist of Inktomi Corp. and associate professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley
The Seattle-based company is aiming to increase the reliability of the Internet, and is
currently focused on solving the problem of Denial of Service attacks, similar to those that shut down Microsof’s sites yesterday.
Eric Brewer focuses on long-term strategy and technology for Inktomi Corporation, developer of scalable Internet infrastructure software. Dr. Brewer is a tenured associate professor of computer science at U.C. Berkeley, where he leads research into next-generation Internet systems, mobile computing and security.
Additionally, Dr. Brewer is the founder and chairman of The Federal Search Foundation, a private, non-profit organization formed with the support of former President Clinton to establish the search engine behind the first Federal government web portal “Firstgov.gov”.
“There are many synergies between the work Eric has done and our company’s mission to make the Internet more reliable,” noted Dr. Tom Anderson, co-founder and CTO of Asta Networks.
“Asta Networks Board is the first I agreed to join, because of the synergy I saw in our visions to evolve the Internet,” said Dr. Brewer. “By taking advantage of existing but unused capabilities to solve issues fundamental to the way the Internet is currently managed, Asta Networks has the potential to make a huge impact on the Internet and the services it can provide to businesses and consumers.”
Dr. Brewer was recently named the “Most Influential Standard-Bearer” by the Industry Standard and “one of the top ten innovators” by InfoWorld. He has also been recognized in Technology Review and Upside magazine among the most influential people of the 21st Century and digital economy. Additionally, Dr. Brewer has been featured in Vanity Fair as a member of the “e-Establishment 50” and in Forbes as part of its “e-gang” and “e-mavericks” lists.
Dr. Brewer earned an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
