Accelerating 5G to XG Solutions:
A Collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Innovation Ecosystem of Silicon Valley
Silicon Catalyst is hosting a series of roundtable discussions with the leadership of the 5G-to-Next G Initiative. The 5G-to-NextG Initiative is leading the US Department of Defense’s research and development of fifth-generation wireless technologies. In its endeavors to help semiconductor startups succeed, Silicon Catalyst sees the 5G-to- NextG Initiative as a leading voice in enabling new capabilities and applications within the commercial ecosystem. Silicon Catalyst and the 5G-to-NextG Initiative look to partner with the private sector to accelerate 5G innovation to rapidly take full advantage of its capabilities, while also addressing the security challenges that 5G presents.
The promise is that 5G will bring about wireless, ubiquitous connectivity across humans, machines, and the Internet of Things. The Department of Defense will adapt 5G and next generation technologies to “operate through” congested and contested spectrum and in spite of compromised networks to ensure maximum readiness, effectiveness, and partnering among allies.
This Energizing Silicon Valley for 5G-to-XG event is a series of four panels focused individually on early startups, transitional startups, venture capital, and large companies engaging with the 5G Initiative leadership (Dr. Joe Evans and Ms. Amanda Toman). Topics will include development of innovative 5G wireless applications and technologies leveraging US entrepreneurial innovations. This is a great opportunity to learn about possible applications in which the Department will invest over the next 18 months.
You must register for each panel you are interested in attending.
Panel 1: Startup perspective
August 18th, 2020
10:00am - 11:30am PST
Zoom Opens 9:55am PST
This panel will explore the opportunities for early stage startups to participate in and contribute to the DOD 5G-to-XG initiative, given that the program's objective is a series of rolling demonstrations and experiments at scale over the next 3 years. This panel will explore the balance between innovation and time-to-scale that the program is trying to achieve, what program thrusts have the strongest pull for early stage innovation, and how the innovation community can have input to the detailed program definition process.
From the United States Government
From Silicon Valley
Panel 2: Investor perspective
August 18th, 2020
13:30pm - 15:00pm PST
Zoom Opens 13:25pm PST
Corporate strategic investors, venture capital, and later stage investors have a range of interests that overlap to varying degrees with different thrusts of the 5G-to-XG initiative. The Investor panel will explore the opportunity for the DOD 5G-to-XG initiative and the diverse commercial investor community to combine their mutual interests for breakthrough outcomes that drive a massive positive outcome for the US 5G industry and the DOD's interest in a 5G system with maximum utility for DOD applications.
From the United States Government
From Silicon Valley
Panel 3: Large Company perspective
August 20th, 2020
10:00am - 11:30am PST
Zoom Opens 9:55am PST
The Large Companies panel will discuss the perspectives of some of Silicon Valley's giants as they consider the implications and opportunities of the 5G-to-XG initiative. If successful, the innovation acceleration and implementation focus areas of the 5G-to-XG program will have a strong effect on these Companies' futures. Key focus points for discussion will be alignment of the 5G-to-XG goals with their commercial strategies, pull-through opportunities for commercialization at scale, and concerns about international competitiveness and security.
From the United States Government
From Silicon Valley
Panel 4: Emerging Company perspective
August 20th, 2020
13:30pm - 15:00pm PST
Zoom Opens 13:25pm PST
This panel will explore the opportunities for later stage startups to participate in the DOD 5G-to-XG initiative and leverage the initiative’s objectives and structure to negotiate the "second Valley of Death". The DOD has historically been an early - and relatively cost insensitive - adopter of high value technologies such as those being deployed by the 5G-to-XG initiative. Focus areas for this panel will include the balance between developing a scalable and advantaged commercial product-at-scale and the sometimes unique requirements of the DOD, the stated objective of a U.S. leadership role in 5G and beyond, and the conflated challenges of DOD contracting and the financing of the growth of emerging startups.
From the United States Government
From Silicon Valley
From the Department of Defense
Dr. Joe Evans
Technical Director 5G, DOD
Dr. Joseph B. Evans is the inaugural Technical Director for 5G, reporting directly to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Dr. Evans is responsible for coordinating 5G efforts across the Department of Defense, oversees and directs the Department's “5G to Next G” research and development portfolio, and advises the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering on 5G-related topics.
Dr. Evans served as a Program Manager in the DARPA Strategic Technology Office from 2015 to 2019. While there, he started the SHARE (Secure Handhelds on Assured Resilient networks at the tactical Edge) and GCA (Geospatial Cloud Analytics) programs, and managed the Mobile Hotspots, RadioMap, SSPARC (Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications), CommEx (Communications Under Extreme RF Spectrum Conditions), WND (Wireless Network Defense), and DyNAMO (Dynamic Network Adaptation for Mission Optimization) programs.
From 1989 to 2019, Dr. Evans was a professor at the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence, Kansas, where his ultimate position was the Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. At KU, he also served in various administrative posts and led funded research programs in the areas of adaptive networking and communications systems, high speed network testbeds, rapidly deployable broadband wireless systems, and spectrum sharing technologies.
Dr. Evans served as a Program Director in the Division of Computer and Network Systems, Directorate of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2003 to 2005. At NSF, he was responsible for multi-organizational networking research efforts in wireless networking, cybersecurity, optical networking, and scientific applications.
Dr. Evans was a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of NetGames USA, Inc., a network gaming company acquired by Microsoft in 2000. Dr. Evans was a partner and Chief Scientist at Ascend Intelligence, LLC, which developed the Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR) for DARPA and the US Army, with large deployments in the Iraq and Afghanistan theatres of operation. Ascend Intelligence was acquired by General Dynamics in 2010.
Among other service activities, Dr. Evans served as a Council member for the Computing Community Consortium Council from 2012 to 2015, and as a Member-at-Large on the IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors from 2009 to 2011.
Dr. Evans received the B.S.E.E. degree from Lafayette College in 1983, and the M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University in 1984, 1986, and 1989, respectively. He is an IEEE Fellow.
Amanda Toman
Director of 5G Initiatives, DOD
Amanda Toman is the Director of 5G Initiative, reporting to Dr. Joseph Evans, Technical Director for 5G. She has over 18 years of experience in Department of Defense research and development.
Amanda served from December 2010 to May 2020 as the OUSD(P) ASD SO/LIC CTTSO Program Manager for the Personnel Protection Subgroup at the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO). CTTSO conducts rapid research and development for the Defense Department and the Interagency. During her tenure she managed a large portfolio of research and development efforts as well as developed innovative technology solutions that addressed urgent needs for the Department and Inter agency.
From 2006 until 2010, Amanda, was a Program Analyst at CTTSO providing engineering, technical, and management support to the CTTSO VIP Protection Subgroup and Concept Development subgroup. In this role, she supported the development, implementation, transition, and life cycle management of counter terrorism related special projects.
Amanda served as a Research Scientist at System Planning Corporation from 2002 – 2006. She was the technical lead that developed new DARPA program concepts, research application areas for program development, attended technical conferences to obtain knowledge for applications, and analyzed the potential for specific applications, e.g., a program to develop bio-fabrication of photovoltaics.
Amanda holds a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech with a concentration in Biomaterials.
Larry “Lee” Hencshel
Director of 5G Operations, DOD
Larry “Lee” Hencshel is the Director of 5G Operations, reporting to Dr. Joseph Evans, Technical Director for 5G. Prior to OUSD R&E, he served in the United States Air Force, several different agencies within the Department of Defense (NSA, DIA, OSD, OUSDI), and the Department of Homeland Security (NCCIC & CISA). Lee has experience in policy, plans, collection, analysis, processing, and dissemination of technical intelligence, and program management in operations relating to SIGINT, Cyber-Intelligence, and 5G Initiatives.
In 2006, Lee applied his expertise in Signals Intelligence for the United State Air Force, serving at the National Security Agency (NSA). After his military service, he transitioned to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), engaged in missions for the Defense Counterintelligence HUMINT Center (DCHC).
As capabilities enhanced and technologies evolved, Lee advanced his education and transitioned into cybersecurity and cyberspace operations. Lee took several different roles at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of the Cybersecurity and Communication’s (CS&C) National Cybersecurity Communication and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), providing expertise as a Cyber Policy Analyst and foreign liaison support to engagements with the Republic of Korea.
In 2015, Lee went back to the DOD to serve under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence as a Senior Cyberspace Operations Specialist, focusing on national cyberspace policies and Presidential Policy Directives under the National Security Council. After two years, Lee took the role as Senior Advisor under the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS), focused on infrastructure protection, cyber policy, and 5G initiatives.
Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Policy, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland University College.
Heather J. Richman
Founder, Defense Investor Network
Heather Richman is a seasoned corporate development and strategy expert with a longstanding focus on the intersection of national security, technology, and investment. Post-9/11, while managing appropriations for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (NY), she focused on the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan and helped set up the Department of Homeland Security from a funding standpoint. She ran government relations for Stanford University and was a founding team member of the $30M Navy initiative, Elemental Excelerator, where she leveraged more than $900M in private capital.
Richman now serves as Entrepreneur in Residence for BMNT Partners where she leverages her experience and vast network to build vibrant ecosystems of entrepreneurs, investors, and experts to rapidly transition impactful, national security/dual-use focused solutions for internal USDOD and Intelligence Community clients. In 2019 she launched the Defense Investor Network in response to investor and family office concern around certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States, in order to determine the effects of such transactions on the national security of the United States and create alternative pathways.
From Silicon Valley
Milo Medin
VP, Wireless Services, Google
Milo is currently the Vice President of Wireless Services service at Google, where he oversees a number of projects to improve access to the Internet, primarily focused on expanding the speed, robustness and pervasiveness of wireless networks.
Prior to joining Google in 2010, he was founder and CTO of Excite@Home, where he led the development of the company's national infrastructure, and helped deliver the first large scale residential broadband access service in partnership with major cable operators. Milo majored in computer science at UC Berkeley.
He holds several patents in the field of network access technology, and sits on the FCC’s Technical Advisory Committee, and Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee.
Since 2016, he has served on the Defense Innovation Board, which is chartered to provide recommendations to the Secretary of Defense to drive more innovation and agility in how the Department achieves its mission.
Mark Pierpoint
SVP, Keysight
Mark Pierpoint is the Senior Vice President of Keysight, and president of the Ixia Solutions Group.
Prior to Pierpoint's leadership role with Keysight's Ixia Solutions Group, he was the vice president and general manager of Internet Infrastructure Solutions within the company's Communications Solutions Group since 2015, responsible for developing and delivering solutions across the commercial communications network, from network access points to data centers and the cloud. Prior to that role, he led Keysight's modular software and instrument initiatives. Pierpoint joined the business in 1987 when it was part of Hewlett-Packard and has held multiple management positions in R&D, marketing and operations across various businesses and geographies.
He earned his Ph.D. in microwave engineering and his bachelor's degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
Esam Elashmawi
Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Lattice Semiconductor
Esam Elashmawi has over 30 years of semiconductor and equipment technology, and industry experience. Over the past decades, he has successfully managed and developed solutions and equipment for the communications, datacenter, automotive, defense, and industrial markets.
Prior to his current role as the Chief Strategy and Marketing office for Lattice Semiconductor, Esam served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Microsemi Corporation since 2010 responsible for their datacenter, timing solutions and programmable logic product lines. Mr. Elashmawi previously served as Vice President of Product Development at Actel Corporation, which Microsemi acquired in 2010. Earlier in his career he co-founded SiliconExpert Technologies, a component management software company, which was acquired by Arrow Electronics.
He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University.
Peter Gammel
CTO, MWI GLOBALFOUNDRIES
Peter L. Gammel is vice president and CTO of the Mobile and Wireless Infrastructure BU at GlobalFoundries. He joined the company in 2019.
Previously, he was the chief technology officer for Skyworks Solutions, Inc. and also served as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at SiGe. Prior to this, he was vice president of engineering at Renaissance Wireless and chief technology officer at Advance Nanotech and for Agere Systems’ Analog Products Business. He was also a distinguished member of technical staff at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs.
Gammel received a bachelor of science in physics and mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University.
Michael Janse
Senior Director, Qualcomm Ventures
Michael is a Senior Director with Qualcomm Ventures, based in Silicon Valley. He primarily invests in mobile, AI, cloud, and automotive technologies.
Throughout his career, Michael has focused on technology startups. He was previously a managing director at Samsung Ventures and an investor at Harris & Harris Group and ARCH Venture Partners. He founded a semiconductor startup with a university researcher and founded a startup to create new engineering polymers. He also worked in the mobile semiconductor industry, in M&A and corporate strategy at Arm, and in semiconductor fabrication at Motorola.
Michael has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and an MBA from Chicago Booth.
Sanjay Jha
Operating Partner, Eclipse Ventures
Sanjay’s passion for innovation and entrepreneurship is the common theme throughout his career. His broad-based technology and executive experience coupled with his tenure as corporate venture leader make him uniquely qualified to work with technical founding teams.
Most recently, Sanjay was CEO of GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest semiconductor foundry business. Prior to joining GlobalFoundries, Sanjay was CEO for the Motorola Mobile Devices business, a role he held until the company’s acquisition by Google. Before joining Motorola, Sanjay was COO of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.
Sanjay began his career at Qualcomm in 1994 as a senior engineer with the very-large-scale integration group working on the Globalstar satellite phone and the first 13k vocoder application-specific integrated circuit, which was integrated into Qualcomm’s MSM2200 chipset. He led and oversaw the development of five generations of modem and cell site chipsets, both digital baseband and RF (radio frequency), and system software.
Sanjay holds a PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Strathclyde.
Dave Johnson
Managing Director, Intel Capital
Dave joined Intel Capital in 2003, following 10 years in Intel’s Finance and Treasury organization where he held financial management positions supporting Intel’s microprocessor and manufacturing groups from 1993-1999, and was a founding member of Intel’s Treasury M&A group where he completed over a dozen acquisitions from 1999-2003. As an investor in wireless and client technology companies, Dave invested in WiMAX, LTE, Connectivity, RF, wireless services / spectrum companies for 8 years before joining the Internet of Things and Autonomous Systems group of Intel Capital in 2015. Dave’s current investment focus areas include industrial systems/solutions, computer vision, robotics and autonomy, 5G for IoT as well as network infrastructure platform companies. Dave serves as a board member for Foghorn and K4Connect, and board observer for Keyssa. Dave was named #2 on Global Corporate Venturing's Emerging Leader list for 2020. Before joining Intel, Dave held management positions with Procter and Gamble and Chevron Corporation.
Dave has an MBA from Cornell University and a BA from Vanderbilt University.
Jay Zaveri
Partner, Social Capital
Jay is a partner at Social Capital, a top decile investment firm in Silicon Valley. Jay’s life mission is to solve forty of the world’s hardest problems, by bringing entrepreneurs, technology, and capital together.
Jay has been a lifelong technology entrepreneur. He co-founded three technology companies, the most recent of which was mobile productivity application CloudOn, which had ten million enterprise users and was acquired by Dropbox in 2014. Since 1996, Jay has built software products that have scaled to millions of active users, and companies that have grown rapidly to become category leaders. His love for cartoons and work in the new media tech space has won him 18 awards, including a Hollywood Film Festival for Best Animated Short.
When not investing, Jay loves hiking, skiing, and hanging out at a beach with family and friends.
Dan Armbrust
Co-founder, Silicon Catalyst
Daniel Armbrust is a Silicon Catalyst co-founder, member of the Board of Directors and its initial CEO. Silicon Catalyst is the first incubator for semiconductor solutions startups. In its 5th year of operations, Silicon Catalyst has admitted over 30 companies from more than 300 applications and has 35 industry partners.
Daniel is also currently engaged with the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to define a strategic public-private partnership program to continue advances in computing and semiconductor technologies. He currently advises several early stage hardware technology startups including Board advisor roles at Ayar Labs and Active Layer Parametrics and Board Chairman of Irresistible Materials. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SEMATECH semiconductor consortium from 2009 to 2014. Armbrust previously held various positions in semiconductor manufacturing and development for 25 years at IBM.
Armbrust earned a BS degree in ceramic science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a MS in manufacturing systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Rick Bahr
Stanford University
Rick Bahr was last spotted as adjunct prof/EE Dept at Stanford University. Prior to returning part-time to academia, Rick was Sr VP of Eng at Qualcomm, chartered with driving Wi-Fi technology. Rick joined Qualcomm through the 2011 Atheros Communications acquisition, a company he joined in 2000 to head engineering. Prior to Atheros, Rick held multiple leadership positions in companies such as HP, Prime, Apollo and SGI (where he was responsible for both MIPS processor and Cray supercomputer engineering developments). Rick’s first 2+ decades of professional life were devoted to processor design and architecture. The last decade and change to communications.
In addition to his role Stanford, Rick aids startup companies as both a mentor with MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service; and, as an advisor with Silicon Catalyst.
Rick holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, both from MIT.
Doug Kirkpatrick
CEO, Eridan
Douglas Kirkpatrick is the CEO and co-founder of Eridan, building 5G radios to enable seamless wireless connectivity everywhere in the world. Kirkpatrick is a founding General Partner of InnerProduct Partners, a seed and early stage investment fund. Prior to forming InnerProduct Partners, he was a Partner with Vantage Point Capital Partners, a leading Silicon Valley cleantech firm with over $4B under management.
From 2002-2010 Kirkpatrick was a Program Manager and Chief Scientist at DARPA. In his eight years at DARPA he ran a portfolio of more than 25 programs including Biofuels, LED lighting, real-time dynamic holographic displays, very high efficiency solar cells, rapid DNA synthesis, cognitive technology based threat warning systems, and a diverse set of classified programs. Prior to DARPA, Kirkpatrick was the VP of R&D for Fusion Lighting, a Maryland-based startup commercializing RF- and microwave-powered high efficiency lighting for general lighting and displays.
Kirkpatrick received his BS degree in Physics & Mathematics from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from MIT in Physics.
Jothy Rosenberg, Dover
CEO, Dover Microsystems
Jothy Rosenberg, has a PhD in computer science from Duke where he decided to become an incorrigible entrepreneur and is now leading his 9th startup. His companies have ranged from HW, to internet infrastructure, to security, to enterprise software, and even a CGI company for Hollywood with two of those having noteworthy exits. He has held senior positions at Borland International, BAE Systems, and Draper Laboratory. He was co-PI on the DARPA CRASH program where the concepts for Dover were first researched.
After 4 1/2 years as a DARPA program and two years incubating inside Draper, Jothy spun Dover out in July 2017. Dover has significant market traction with NXP about to ship a chip with Dover’s CoreGuard in it, with Cadence as a partner, and recently with some significant projects for the Air Force Research Lab under the Trusted and Assured Microelectronics Program. Dover considers one of its target verticals 5G infrastructure.
Veerbhan Kheterpal
CEO, Quadric
Veerbhan has founded three technology companies and has full stack expertise spanning software to silicon across Edge & Datacenter applications. Currently, he is a CEO & co-founder of quadric.io, a company that is focused on building a supercomputing platform for Edge applications. Prior to quadric.io, Veerbhan was a technical co-founder of 21, Inc where he was focused on bringing power-efficient ASICs to the cryptocurrency space. Veerbhan served in various roles ranging from designing custom ASICs (3 production chips in 18 months), developing web scale blockchain backends & building consumer facing mobile apps.
Prior to 21, Veerbhan co-founded Fabbrix, Inc, which was acquired by PDF Solutions. Fabbrix was focused on tools and flows that enabled design for manufacturability of complex Integrated Circuits.
Veerbhan is an entrepreneur at heart and always looking for breakthroughs in technology, relationships and parenting.
John Terry
CEO, Espre Technologies
John is a highly sought after expert and speaker on wireless networks, communications protocols, and technology innovation. He has successfully led Terry Consultants, Inc. for 14+ years. He is currently the CTO and co-founder of PlusN, a leading solution provider for Smart Carrier Aggregation for 4G and 5G networks. He has worked with Nokia, WiQuest, AT&T, Verizon, and multiple innovative market players. He is an adviser of Gotenna, and is a senior member of IEEE and Vice-Chair of 802.11g.
John holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Davida Herzl
CEO, Aclima
Davida Herzl is co-founder and CEO of Aclima. Herzl leads a diverse team meeting the urgent need for a new class of tools to accelerate bold climate action. Aclima’s platform translates its block-by-block scientific measurements of air pollution and greenhouse gases into climate intelligence that helps governments, communities, and industry reduce emissions and protect public health. Herzl holds a Juris Doctorate, as well as a BA in Economics, Political Science, and Communications.
She was named one of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company (2019), one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2018 by Goldman Sachs, and a Grist 50 Fixer (2017).
Stacy Joseph
CEO, Beam Semiconductor
Stacy has over 25 years of semiconductor product design, sales, marketing and strategic business development expertise. Prior to joining Beam, Stacy was the Senior Director of Strategic Business Development for Silicon Optix Inc. - a leading supplier of advanced video/image digital processing integrated circuits (ICs) for large area displays including front/rear projection, plasma and LCD HDTVs.
Stacy managed the product development and planning for the Emmy Award-winning Realta architecture, which included the industry's first fully software programmable video array processor capable of performing over 1 trillion operations per second.
Prior to Silicon Optix, Stacy was Director of Product Marketing for V3 Semiconductor (eventually purchased by Quicklogic Corporation) where he directed the development of PCI bridge chip solutions for MIPS and ARM RISC processors. Prior to V3/Quicklogic, Stacy spent 9 years with Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group (DSP and ASIC) in various Technical Marketing and Sales roles.
Stacy holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from McMaster University.
Sara Spangelo
CEO, Swarm Technologies
Sara Spangelo is the CEO and co-founder of Swarm Technologies, a startup that provides affordable connectivity for IoT devices anywhere in the world through its network of satellites. Sara has a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan, and prior to Swarm she worked at NASA JPL and GoogleX.
Sara holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and in 2017 was a Top 32 Canadian astronaut candidate.
Bill McFarland
CTO, Plume Wireless
Experienced engineering executive with broad experience in communications and semiconductors. Management of analog/RF circuit design, communications systems design, digital implementations and software. Strong communicator with extensive customer interaction and participation in standards and regulatory matters. Startup experience, helping Atheros Communications grow from 10 employees to over 1,700. Part of the leadership team that drove revenue from zero to over $1.5B. Holder of over 70 patents, published over 35 papers. IEEE Fellow.