Keith Sloan

Keith Sloan is the founder and chief architect of KVN Associates. Keith has 26 years of experience in digital product development; with 20 years of extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, particularly in the design and development of SONET/SDH Transport equipment, such as ADMs and Digital Cross-Connects. Prior to starting KVN Associates, Keith was the director of IC for OnSite Systems, a venture funded SONET/SDH transport company. Prior to OnSite Systems, Keith's efforts were focused on a semiconductor startup venture specializing in high density SONET/SDH framer and infrastructure devices, where he was chief architect and founder. Previously, Keith was Senior Manager of ASIC Development at Metro Optix, Inc., where he successfully architected and developed numerous ASIC devices which served as the backbone of their Multi-Service platform. Prior to Metro Optix, Keith served as a Senior ASIC designer at Applied Digital Access, where he also aided in system's development. Before joining Applied Digital Access, Keith led several chip developments across multiple switching platforms for DSC Communications, where he began his telecommunications career.

Vinod Empranthiri

Prior to starting KVN Associates, Mr. Vinod Empranthiri was the President and CEO of ArchSilc Design Automation, an Electronic Design Automation company. ArchSilc's network protocol compliancy verification software automates multi-protocol compliancy verification of convergent communication SoCs and system designs. ArchSilc's software helped companies such as Aeluros Inc., NetLogic, OnSite Systems, Positron Networks, Crimson Microsystems, and Aethera Networks successfully develop RIGHT-FIRST-TIME network SoCs and systems. Vinod has over 15 years of experience in ASIC design, verification, and EDA product development. Prior to ArchSilc, Vinod was the Director of Applications at Co-Design Automation, the company that introduced the SUPERLOG language, the basis of the SystemVerilog language, the defacto verification language used by RTL designers today. Co-Design Automation was acquired by Synopsys Inc. in 2002. Prior to Co-Design Automation, Vinod was the System Level Verification manager at Jasmine Networks, developers of Convergent Networking Systems. Vinod also held engineering and application leadership positions at IKOS [acquired by Mentor Graphics], Innoveda [acquired by Mentor Graphics], and LSI Logic. Vinod has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from San Jose State University.