PB Ventures Limited
Independent consultant specializing in wireless technology, product marketing, and technology strategy. Founder of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Inventor of Omninet. Over 40 years building products and companies at the forefront of networking.
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Career Highlights
Co-founded the Wi-Fi Alliance with five other companies — including direct competitors — and served as Chairman for the first few years. Our mission was to educate the market about wireless LANs and create an interoperability certification program so that consumers could buy IEEE 802.11 products from different vendors and be assured that they would work together. The Wi-Fi logo became the "Good Housekeeping seal" for wireless LAN products. As Chairman of the group, I went on several press tours representing the Wi-Fi Alliance in the early days before Wi-Fi was successful. Recruited Microsoft, Dell, and Apple as founding board members. The Wi-Fi brand that we created led to the global adoption of Wi-Fi.
As a member of the IEEE 802.11 MAC committee, co-authored the DFWMAC protocol with two colleagues from competing companies. The DFWMAC was selected as the basis for the IEEE 802.11 Media Access Control (MAC) standard and remains the foundation for the billions of Wi-Fi devices in use worldwide today.
At Corvus Systems, invented Omninet — a 1 Mbps twisted-pair local area network that pre-dated commercial Ethernet. Omninet was designed for Apple II, CP/M, and DEC microcomputer systems. Created the network protocol, defined the host interface, and wrote the MC6801 firmware for the network interface cards. Partnered with NEC Corporation to design the Omninet controller chip, contributing to the chip's microcontroller architecture and microcode.
Served as technical and business advisor to the Mayor of Fairlawn, Ohio. Helped the city envision, design, and build a fiber-to-the-home network covering every residence and business in the city. Structured the public-private partnership, wrote the RFP for network construction, and recruited and interviewed respondents. I helped the city build the FairlawnGig service including: branding, website development, billing systems, and customer support. At launch, FairlawnGig offered 1 Gbps residential broadband for $75/month — delivering ten times the speed of the incumbent cable provider at a comparable price, with no new taxes or levies.
Vivato was a spectacular venture-backed startup in the early 2000s. As VP of Marketing at Vivato, led the company's rebrand from Mabuhay Networks, developed a new corporate identity, and created the "Wi-Fi switching" product category. Positioned Vivato as the leader in long-range outdoor Wi-Fi, recruited top Cisco gold resellers, and generated strong industry analyst and press coverage. A fundamental hardware limitation discovered just after product launch ultimately ended the company. The Vivato marketing execution, company positioning, and launch was a great marketing success story even though the company ultimately failed.
Consulting History
PB Ventures is Phil's independent consulting practice. Engagements span product marketing, technical strategy, standards participation, expert witness work, and municipal broadband. Many engagements have included writing technical white papers and explainer pieces for networking and wireless companies.
Tarana Wireless develops a Fixed Wireless Access product line with breakthrough performance, delivering gigabit service levels to clients several kilometers away. Worked as an individual contributor on product marketing and program management for new product development. Developed a playbook for lower-cost Tarana deployments in international markets. Reviewed AFC providers ahead of Tarana's 6 GHz product line introduction.
Retained by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. Worked on the CalTech v. Broadcom patent trial involving Wi-Fi error correction codes. Wrote the expert witness report, sat for two depositions by opposing counsel, responded to the defendant's motions, and prepared for trial. Quinn Emanuel, representing CalTech, won the case.
See Career Highlights above for the full story. Specific responsibilities included training the mayor and city council on municipal broadband technology; developing the high-level network concept; writing the RFP for network construction and service provider recruitment; running the RFP process; doing marketing for the FairlawnGig launch (branding, website, direct mail); selecting and implementing back-office billing and customer support software; designing a temporary fixed wireless network for early subscribers; and teaching classes for FairlawnGig customers on streaming and gigabit service.
Developed a strategy and business plan for Juniper Networks to create a new business unit and enter the wireless LAN market. The strategy included rapid market entry through acquisition. Interviewed prospective target companies and conducted technical and business due diligence for Juniper's acquisition of Trapeze Networks.
Product marketing and technical white paper development for Meru Networks' next-generation enterprise Wi-Fi launch. Technical white paper for Extricom explaining the channel blanket architecture in the context of IEEE 802.11n. Technical white papers for Cisco on municipal broadband. Patent claim analysis for wireless mesh systems and MIMO codebook (Meyertons, Hood, Kivlin, Kowert & Goetzel, P.C.).
Founder and Managing Director. Co-founded a wireless consulting and industry analyst firm. Conducted competitive testing of wireless LAN products measuring throughput, range, and service availability for indoor enterprise systems and large-scale outdoor deployments. Established Novarum as a leading authority in the municipal wireless space and the premier network auditing firm for wireless networks.
Executive Consultant. Oaktree Consulting helped clients build better product roadmaps and develop industry partnerships through participation in standards groups. Worked with a small team of consultants experienced in standards organizations, training clients on effective participation and, in some cases, representing them directly in standards groups.
Employment History
Managed a distributed marketing team working 100% remotely. Organized the function across outbound marketing and product/technical marketing tracks. Worked to transition Netgate from its open source community roots to addressing the broader business market — introducing a product management discipline, defining products more completely, and supporting a new outbound sales team with competitive positioning and sales materials. Departed following a fundamental disagreement with the founders over open source vs. commercial market positioning.
mimik developed a platform for building hybrid edge cloud software, enabling any smart device to function as a cloud server. Launched the company from stealth mode, rebuilt positioning and messaging, and built the first public website. Introduced mimik to major industry analysts and prospective customers. The company was unable to close the funding round needed to build out the marketing team at the time. mimik is now the Agentic AI platform for autonomous devices at the network edge.
Acquired by Allied Telesyn
Extricom was an Israeli company with a unique "channel blanket" architecture for enterprise Wi-Fi. Managed a small team including one product manager and two marketing communications professionals. Helped build Extricom's credibility in the US market and launched the company's 802.11n product line.
Acquired by Ericsson
BelAir Networks built large-scale outdoor Wi-Fi systems for municipal and carrier networks. Managed two product managers, three marketing communications managers, and a PR agency. Transitioned BelAir from stealth-mode startup to a recognized leader in carrier-grade, municipal-scale wireless infrastructure. Authored technical papers on BelAir's multi-radio wireless mesh architecture and launched three distinct product platforms.
Built the marketing team from scratch: two Marketing Communications Managers, three Product Marketing Managers, two Technical Marketing Engineers, a PR agency, and a creative agency. Rebranded the company from Mabuhay Networks to Vivato, developing a custom font, color scheme, logo, and website. Created the "Wi-Fi switching" product category and positioned Vivato as the leader in long-range outdoor Wi-Fi. See Career Highlights for the full story.
Acquired by AT&T
Managed a team covering marketing communications, business development, and product marketing. Worked with Microsoft to ensure Wi-Fi hotspot support was included in Windows XP at launch. Started the Service Provider activity within the Wi-Fi Alliance. Launched and promoted Wayport High Speed Internet Access at Dallas Fort Worth airport and supported Wayport's rollout at Starbucks. Wayport ultimately built public access networks for Starbucks, McDonald's, Hilton Hotels, Wyndham Hotels, and many other venues — all later acquired by AT&T.
Joined Wayport to expand its services to include Wi-Fi. Wayport defined the hotspot concept, including captive portal and walled garden for initial log-in. Developed the business model for Wi-Fi roaming and established initial relationships with Boingo and iPass. Signed agreements with five major European airports, but the tech collapse in late 2000 prevented Wayport from securing the funding needed to build them out.
Acquired by Cisco — the foundation of Cisco's enterprise wireless LAN business
Built strategic relationships with major PC and networking companies. Co-founded the Wi-Fi Alliance and was elected Chairman in July 1999. Won significant OEM business including Dell. Instrumental in winning the Microsoft campus-wide wireless network — a deal that contributed directly to Cisco's acquisition of Aironet.
Established a distinct brand identity for Aironet, separate from parent company Telxon. Built the marketing team (three Marketing Communications, two Product Managers, creative and PR agencies). Launched three major products: the 3500 Series, 4500 Series, and 4800 Series — the 4800 Series being the first IEEE 802.11b product on the market. Presented to potential investors alongside the CEO and CFO, contributing to a successful IPO.
Established and managed a new software engineering team of 10 engineers and managers. Defined the system architecture for Aironet's Frequency Hopping products. Co-authored IAPP, a common interoperability protocol for access points from different vendors. Managed software development for the Aironet/Telxon joint project for Sears.
Acquired by Intel
Responsible for product marketing and all engineering for Xircom's wireless LAN and WAN products. Managed a team of 6 product marketing professionals and 16 engineers. Established a project management discipline that led to more predictable development cycles. Delivered second-generation Netwave products, including an improved PCMCIA Wireless LAN adapter, a low-cost RISC-based Access Point, enhanced management software, and improved AP-to-AP roaming.
One of four Business Unit Directors at Xircom, responsible for engineering and product marketing for the wireless product line. Managed three product marketing managers and eight engineers. Developed relationships with two major silicon partners building WLAN chips. Co-authored the DFWMAC protocol, adopted in November 1993 as the foundation for the IEEE 802.11 MAC standard. Launched the Netwave product line.
Launched the Netwave wireless LAN and conducted an extensive press tour with Xircom's CEO. Represented Xircom at the IEEE 802.11. Established strategic relationships with AMD, NCR, and Symbol Technologies that led to a cooperative effort in the 802.11 standards group. Defined early market requirements and positioning for wireless LAN products.
Developed protocol specifications for Xircom's wireless LAN. Developed techniques for seamless roaming in a multi-cell wireless LAN environment. Helped start up the wireless engineering activity in Mountain View.
Developed a business plan and high-level design for an ATM-to-the-desktop networking startup featuring a low-cost 8×8 switch and a LAN adapter for Sun SPARCStations. Completed a high-level design of the ATM chip, client adapter, and switch based on a 155 Mbps fiber physical layer. Attended early ATM Forum meetings and attracted interest from several venture capital firms, but was unable to secure funding in time.
Founded to pursue the Macintosh networking market. Licensed the Nodem technology from Adaptec and began manufacturing a 10BASE-T version of the Nodem. Sold Ethernet adapters to resellers and end users in the US. Developed a business plan to fund future product expansion. Turned over day-to-day operations to partners in May 1991.
Managed one of four business units at Adaptec with full P&L responsibility. The Communication Products Operation developed and marketed Ethernet interfaces for Apple Macintosh and other personal computers, growing to $2M in annual revenue. Signed two national distributors (Ingram Micro D and Softsel). Led development of the first product, Nodem — an external Ethernet interface box connecting through a computer's SCSI port — completed in one year with a three-person engineering team. Wrote the original business plan for networking products at Adaptec.
Director of Engineering for all network products. Led a 15-person team across three groups: Network Hardware, Network Protocols, and Network Diagnostics and Drivers. Developed networking products based on the NEC Omninet controller chip, designed to be compatible with emerging IEEE 802 LAN standards. Co-designed the Omninet 2 network controller chip (µPD 72105) with NEC, including the chip's internal microcontroller architecture, microcode, and host interface. Defined the Omninet II network protocol.
Led development of print server software and a network diagnostics package. Designed the Name Lookup Protocol and Disk Server Protocol II. Designed and implemented network and disk drivers for the Corvus Concept, an early MC 68000 workstation.
Invented Omninet® — a 1 Mbps twisted-pair local area network for Apple II and CP/M microcomputers that pre-dated commercial Ethernet. Defined the software interface, network protocols, and overall architecture. Wrote firmware for the MC6801-based Omninet interface card.
Contributed to protocol development for Z-NET, a local area network with a distributed, message-based operating system. Designed and implemented the final version of Z-NET protocols in Z-80 assembly language.
Education