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Akamai Chief To Address TiE Atlantic

Arthur J Pais

As the chairman of Akamai, one of the most successful East Coast firms, George Conrades gets requests from many high-profile institutions to share his entrepreneurial wisdom with their members. On January 31, he will address the Atlantic chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs, whose chairman, Desh Deshpande, is also one of the most successful entrepreneurs in America.

The TiE monthly meeting will take place at Burlington Marriott Hotel.

Akamai Technologies Inc, whose software speeds the delivery of content over the Internet, has as its customers such firms as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc and Britannica.com Inc, the web site for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc.

The company speeds delivery of content by linking about 1,500 computer servers on 55 telecommunication networks, then placing its customers' content on those servers. It constantly monitors Internet traffic and re-routes transmissions to avoid delays.

Conrades was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Akamai in April 1999, bringing with him a broad range of business experience in the computing, Internet, telecommunications and media industries.

He is currently a member of the interim board of the Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers, a non-profit organization established by the US government to oversee the administration of Internet names and addresses.

"At TiE we want to listen to not only south Asian high achievers but also other brilliant people," says Dr Dinesh Patel, one of TiE Atlantic directors.

TiE Atlantic, which is entering its fourth year, holds monthly meetings in Burlington, near Boston, which attract many young entrepreneurs.

"We are next door to MIT, Harvard and many other fine educational institutions," Patel says. "Some of TiE's future leaders are at these institutions."

TiE Atlantic is known as one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs, especially in high tech areas.

One reason the TiE Atlantic chapter has succeeded more than TiE's other chapters is because of the involvement of Indian Americans who have created such prominent national companies as Marlborough-based Nexabit Networks Inc, System Resource Corp of Burlington and Netcore Systems Inc of Wilmington.

Like the parent TiE in the Silicon Valley, TiE Atlantic, which has about 200 members, was created to serve as a meeting place and networking group for south Asian entrepreneurs who want to realise their high-tech ideas but who lack the experience or contacts to launch a company.

"One big thing is to serve as role models and give an opportunity to network," said Mukesh Chatter, one of the founders of TiE Atlantic.

"When you're a start-up, you may be looking for assistance from several different areas."

Chatter, the founder of Nexabit Networks Inc, maker of terabit switch routers, sold the company to Lucent for $ 900 million last year. He is one of the most profiled of New England entrepreneurs.

"A lot of younger guys are wanting to get into the business, but they don't know how to meet the main players or people who can help them," said Desh Deshpande.

Deshpande heads the Chelmsford-based Sycamore Networks Inc, a fiber-optic technology company that recently went for an initial public stock offering and turned Deshpande into an overnight billionaire.

Despande and other TiE Atlantic leaders believe many would-be high-tech entrepreneurs that come to the United States from India have extensive educational qualifications, but lack the fiscal and logistical connections that TiE provides.

"The biggest obstacle is beyond having a good idea, it's getting the contacts to get off the ground. We try to reduce the time that it takes to do that." Ashraf Dahod, chief executive officer of Wilmington-based Netcore Systems Inc, which makes Internet data switches, said in an interview recently.

His firm was sold to Lisle, Illinois-based Tellabs Inc for $ 574 million last summer.

For more details, contact (781) 272-6456 or check www.tie-atlantic.com.

If you would like to post any information about forthcoming events or community happenings, please email the details to bettypais@aol.com

Information and photographs can also be mailed to Betty Pais at 87-52 108th Street, 2nd Floor, Richmond Hill, NY 11418-2229, USA.

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