Packet Design Names COO

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Douglas Brent has joined Packet Design LLC as chief operating officer, reporting to CEO and co-founder Judy Estrin. He is responsible for the company's day-to-day operations, including product development, business development and Packet Design's CNS product unit. Brent comes to Packet Design from Andes Networks, a developer of ASIC-based web security products, where he spent a year as vice president of engineering and was also acting as CEO. From 1996 to 1999 he was vice president of engineering at Internet appliance vendor Whistle Communications; when Whistle was acquired by IBM in 1999, he became general manager for small business services in IBM's Global Small Business Division. Previously Brent had spent four years at Taligent, the Apple/IBM/HP joint venture, as vice president of product development. He also held several engineering management positions at Apple, and was part of the team that negotiated the formation of Taligent. "Over the past year we've seen a number of our network technology projects move past the conceptual stage to become full-fledged development programs, and we've formed a separate, product-oriented business unit, Packet Design CNS," Estrin said. "It was time to bring someone on board who could focus full time on managing these multiple simultaneous projects. Doug's history of spearheading successful technical development efforts, notably at Whistle and Taligent, makes him an excellent fit whose operational skills will complement our strategic research efforts." Packet Design LLC