Interview with NETGEAR CTO Mark Merrill (4/12/2007)

I had an hour to spend with Mark last week, and got the chance to talk with him about quite a few topics.  As I’m not the most perfect note-taker, the answers below are paraphrases/edits of his original words, and should not be considered actual quotes of Mark’s.

Q: How did you find NETGEAR?
A: Joined SynOptics in the late 80s, designing 10BaseT circuitry.  That company got purchased by Bay Networks in 1994. In 1995, Mark, along with Patrick Lo, got involved in a "skunkworks" project to build an Ethernet switch using local expertise and Asian manufacturing (a feat at the time).  This effort was spun out in 1996 as a subsidiary company, NETGEAR, Inc.

Q: What accomplishments are you personally quite proud of over the past 10 years?
A: The company was initially quite a tiny team in untested waters, using processes that were unheard of at the time.  Now there are over 350 employees, and the company sold over 12 million units last year.  In addition to that, in general product satisfaction is high, and return rates are low.  These are all really good accomplishments for any company in 10 years time.

Q: As CTO of NETGEAR, what are your primary day-to-day responsibilities?
A: In general it’s a lot about being involved with standards bodies and industry organizations furthering networking technology.  Mark also works with the engineering teams on some hands-on technology problem-solving, but his days of soldering circuit boards are done.

Q: What was the last product you were involved in on a hands-on basis?
A: The MP101 (which is coincidentally a product I knew intimately when I worked back at Mediabolic), about three years ago.  Since then, he’s called in as a specialist from time to time, but is either at a desk or a meeting or an event.  Mark pledges to have a bench installed in his office as soon as he’s done cleaning it up!

Q: What are some technologies you are particularly interested in seeing reach SMB and consumers in the coming months or years?
A: Mesh networking solutions, residential gigabit, 802.11n, and connected (yet secured) home storage, to name a few.  Mesh networking is particularly exciting to Mark, as it solves many major connectivity problems across the board.  Also, the notion of anywhere, anytime, secure access to a personal media and file system is definitely of increasing importance.  And, as always, fatter pipes coming all the time.

Q: Over the years, are there any technology trends that did (or didn’t) surprise you a lot?
A: Home media servers (again, a funny coincidence). Not really surprised that the category hasn’t gone crazy independently, but more surprised that it’s taken so long for even the earliest versions of anywhere/anytime content.

Thanks again for your time Mark!  In the coming weeks we’ll have a few more interviews, and even some video! 

Jeremy Toeman
Consumer Technology and New Media Expert