The Packet Scoop

Earlier this week we announced the formation of the PacketTrap Advisory Board. I am pleased that these respected members of our industry have decided to help us build a world class network management company. There is a clear pain point in the market for more affordable, more intuitive, and less complex solutions to manage networks. As virtualization, SaaS, open source, and VoIP are implemented, network management tools need to keep pace with these disruptive technologies. That being said, network management doesn’t have to be hard and it doesn’t have to be complex. Sometimes, vendors and industry people tend to make network management much more complex than it needs to be.

The clear link between the people on our Advisory Board is company building, knowledge of the marketplace, and deep technical capability. Most important, to us, these people will help guide our business as we move forward. By offering honest and objective feedback, the board is helping PacketTrap develop a truly innovative solution that will help us solve the network management pain points of our customers.

The PacketTrap Advisory Board members include:

David Drummond, Executive VP, Google
David incorporated Google in 1998 when he was a partner with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, one of the nation’s leading law firms representing technology businesses. David became Google’s vice president, Corporate Development in 2002. In this role, David works with the management team to evaluate and drive new strategic business opportunities, including strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. Immediately prior to joining Google, David served as executive vice president, finance and chief financial officer for SmartForce, where he helped transform the publicly-traded company into the world’s largest e-learning company. David earned his bachelor of arts degree in history from Santa Clara University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Dean Drako, CEO, Barracuda Networks
As president and CEO, Dean Drako is responsible for overall corporate strategic direction and product development. Prior to founding Barracuda Networks in 2002, Dean was founder, president and CEO of Velosel Corporation, where he successfully closed two rounds of venture financing. Dean hired his replacement so he could pursue his battle against spam at Barracuda Networks. Prior to Velosel, Dean founded Boldfish, a leading provider of enterprise messaging solutions that was acquired by Siebel Systems in 2003. Before Boldfish, Dean was founder, president and CEO of Design Acceleration, Inc. (DAI), maker of superior design analysis and verification tools, which was acquired by Cadence Design Systems in 1998. He has served as an entrepreneur in residence for SoftBank Venture Capital as well as vice president of product engineering at the 3DO Company. Dean holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Doug Brockett, Executive VP, SonicWALL
As the Vice President and General Manager, Douglas Brockett brings to SonicWALL a broad range of product development and technology expertise. Prior to joining SonicWALL, Mr. Brockett was the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Nexsi Systems, an early-stage Internet security company. Before joining Nexsi, Mr. Brockett held vice president positions in business development and system integration services with BBN and GTE Internetworking. Mr. Brockett holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Harvard University.

Steve