Martin Casado

Martín Casado
Born1975 or 1976 (age 47–48)
EducationNorthern Arizona University (Bachelor's)
Stanford University (Masters, Ph.D.)
Occupation(s)Andreessen Horowitz, General Partner

Martín Casado is a Spanish-born American software engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. He is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, was a pioneer of software-defined networking, and was a co-founder and the chief technology officer of Nicira Networks.

Early life and education

[edit]

Martín Casado was born around 1976 in Cartagena, Spain.[1] He received his bachelor's degree from Northern Arizona University in 2000.[2] In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from the same university.[3] Casado was a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1998 until 2003.[4] While at LLNL, he ran large-scale computer simulations for the United States Department of Defense.[5]

Casado attended Stanford University, earning both his Masters and PhD in computer science in 2007.[6] While at Stanford, he began the development of OpenFlow,[7] an open-source protocol that enabled software-defined networking. His Ph.D. thesis, "Architectural Support for Security Management in Enterprise Networks,” under advisors Nick McKeown, Scott Shenker and Dan Boneh, was published in 2008.[8]

Career

[edit]

In 2007, Casado co-founded Nicira Networks along with McKeown and Shenker, a Palo Alto, California based company working on network virtualization. Casado also served as Nicira’s chief technology officer.[9]

Along with McKeown and Shenker, Casado promoted software-defined networking.[7] His Ph.D. work at Stanford University led to the development of the OpenFlow protocol, which was promoting using the term software-defined networking (SDN).[10] McKeown and Shenker co-founded the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) in 2011 to transfer control of OpenFlow to a not-for-profit organization.[11]

In July 2012, VMware acquired Nicira for $1.26 billion.[12][13] At VMware he was made a fellow and held the positions chief technology officer (CTO) for networking and security and general manager of the Networking and Security Business Unit.[14]

Casado left VMware and joined venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in February 2016 as its ninth general partner.[15][16][17] Andreessen Horowitz had been one of the investors Nicira, contributing $17.7 million to the start-up venture.[13]

Awards

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Linda Taaffe (December 6, 2013). "Silicon Valley 40 under 40: Martin Casado". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  2. ^ "Roots that Matter" (Press release). Northern Arizona University. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  3. ^ "Around the Town: NAU graduation Friday and Saturday" (Press release). Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  4. ^ "The accidental entrepreneur". Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  5. ^ Jin, Berber (19 March 2023). "A Venture Capitalist Imagines What Generative AI Will Change". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Stanford names dominate Association for Computing Machinery awards". engineering.stanford.edu. 10 April 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b Sean Michael Kerner (April 29, 2013). "OpenFlow Inventor Martin Casdo on SDN, VMware, and Software Defined Networking Hype". Enterprise Networking Planet. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  8. ^ Martin Casado (December 2007). "Architectural Support for Security Management in Enterprise Networks" (PDF). PhD dissertation. Stanford University. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  9. ^ Clark, Kate (30 June 2023). "Andreessen Horowitz's AI Crusader Emerges as a Confidant of the Founders". Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  10. ^ Kim, Eugene (25 February 2016). "The guy who sold his startup for $1.26 billion to VMware just got poached by a top VC firm". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  11. ^ John Markoff (March 22, 2011). "Open Networking Foundation Pursues New Standards". New York Times. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  12. ^ Quentin Hardy (October 17, 2011). "What is Nicira up to?". Bits Blog. New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Dina Bass and Sarah Frier (July 24, 2012). "VMware to Buy Nicira Network Software for $1.26 Billion". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  14. ^ "Martin Casado". VMware. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  15. ^ Marc Andreessen (February 24, 2016). "Martin Casado". Andreessen Horowitz. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  16. ^ Alex Konrad (February 24, 2016). "Andreessen Horowitz Names Nicira and VMware Veteran Martin Casdo Its Ninth General Partner". Forbes. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  17. ^ Darren Pauli (February 25, 2016). "NSX Daddy Martin Casado leaves VMware to become a VC: Andreessen Horowitz lures mightily influential network virtualisation figure". The Register. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  18. ^ Virginia Gold (April 9, 2013). "Martin Casado, Award Winner" (PDF) (Press release). ACM. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
[edit]