Former Cisco Systems chief technologist Judy Estrin and her husband, Bill Carrico, last week unveiled a start-up aimed at improving the underlying technology of the Internet.
Called Packet Design Inc., the Menlo Park, Calif.-company is backed by heavy-hitting technologists including James Barksdale, former Netscape chief executive, and Sun Microsystems chief scientist Bill Joy.
Estrin, 45, said Packet Design will center around the ideas of a core group of technology experts, led by Van Jacobson, who left his position as Cisco’s chief scientist to join the start-up. “The Internet has outgrown its original design in terms of its ability to support huge numbers of users and new application types,” said Estrin, Cisco’s chief technology officer until April.
The company will focus on three main areas: security; the ability to support more users and devices; and the convergence of the Internet and wireless devices.
The original language of the Web–called Internet Protocol–was not designed to accommodate the amount of traffic on the Web today, including new high-speed audio and video content.
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Rather than selling its technology under its own brand, Packet Design will license its technology directly to equipment manufacturers or spin off separate businesses to sell and develop the products for service providers and businesses.
Estrin says that she plans to sell the spinoffs to other high-tech companies or raise money by taking them public. The first spinoff company is expected within two years, she said.