SCIENCE

Bigfoot Networks has announced the appointment of three industry veterans as Board directors and advisors. These appointments include Paul Franklin, Jeff Thermond and Alex Gruzen. Each executive has achieved significant success in leading networking and computing companies such as Atheros, Broadcom and Dell, and will be instrumental in advancing Bigfoot Networks' growth as an innovator of networking solutions for online gaming, video and multimedia applications.

Paul Franklin joins the Bigfoot Networks Board as the new director, bringing with him more than 40 years of high technology experience in semiconductors and computer hardware. A seasoned executive, Franklin has extensive corporate and management experience. Franklin has previously provided operational leadership as the vice president of operations at Atheros Communications and president of the Multimedia Products Division at S3, Inc. Franklin will be replacing Greg Ballard on the Board, who recently has accepted a position of senior vice president for Time Warner.

"Bigfoot Networks is the leading innovator in intelligent networking for applications like HD video streaming and online gaming. I am thrilled to be associated with Bigfoot Networks and its excellent management team, and look forward to helping the company continue to grow its lead in this market," stated Franklin.

A former senior executive at Broadcom and founder of Epigram, Jeff Thermond joins Bigfoot Networks as an advisory board member. Thermond has 30 years of combined management, sales and marketing experience in the networking industry. He has long-standing expertise leading private companies in areas from research, to product delivery to liquidity.

"Bigfoot Networks is changing the way the industry looks at networking. Its strategy of combining application intelligence and control with performance and focusing on the end user multimedia experience is truly unique and inspiring," said Thermond.

Alex Gruzen, also coming to Bigfoot Networks as an advisory board member, holds a 30+-year track record in business operations, product development and international sales and marketing. A computer industry veteran with technical acumen, Alex was previously senior vice president of the Consumer and Small Medium Business Product Group at Dell and a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard.

"I first met the Bigfoot team when I was at Dell, and I knew they were on to something big that could have an impact beyond PC gaming. I was impressed by their technology and the broader potential for improving the consumer experience in the digital home. The growth and trajectory of their business has far exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to seeing Bigfoot expand its market impact," shared Gruzen.

"We are extremely proud to announce the appointment of such talented professionals to our Board of Directors," said Michael Howse, CEO of Bigfoot Networks. "Each of these executives brings an enormous reservoir of industry experience and knowledge about how to build and sustain high velocity businesses. Bigfoot is on track to do some incredible things this year and we welcome these executives' exuberance as we work toward these greater goals."