An Evening with 2008 Fellow Awardee Bob Metcalfe in Conversation with Cisco SVP Kathy Hill

Bob Metcalfe was awarded a 2008 Fellow Award by the Computer History Museum for leading the invention, standardization, and commercialization of the Ethernet local-area networking system for PCs.

With a solid history of technology pioneering work under his belt, Metcalfe is currently a partner at Polaris Ventures. He has had three careers in technological innovation before becoming a venture capitalist, working with the next generation of innovators and emerging technologies.

• As an engineer-scientist (1965-1979), Metcalfe helped pioneer the 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, 35 years later, about 350 million new Ethernet ports are shipped annually.

• As an entrepreneur-executive (1979-1990), he founded 3Com Corporation, the billion-dollar networking company where at various times he was Chairman, CEO, division general manager, and vice president of engineering, sales, and marketing.

• As a publisher-pundit (1990-2000), Metcalfe was CEO of IDG's InfoWorld Publishing Company (1992-1995). For eight years, he opined about the Internet in an InfoWorld column read weekly by half a million information technologists.

Metcalfe will sit down with Cisco Senior Vice President Kathy Hill to discuss his experiences in the technology industry, life lessons and current passions. He has been very active in finding a solution for the world’s energy challenge and identifying the innovations (and innovators) who will meet that challenge. Join the CHM community as we celebrate the work of this remarkable individual.