Perlman named Intel Fellow

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Radia PerlmanQuick: check your bookshelf. The odds aren’t bad that you have a copy of Radia Perlman’s book, Interconnections — I do, and I’m not even a networking guy.

That book’s author, Radia Perlman, has just been named to Intel’s elite core of Fellows.

“We are pleased to have Radia join the Intel team,” said Justin Rattner, director of Intel Labs and the company’s chief technology officer. “Given the ever-increasing importance of security and the connectedness of the computing continuum, Radia’s expertise and leadership will benefit Intel and Intel Labs as we work to deliver breakthrough technologies and bring the benefits of the digital revolution to people across the globe.”

Intel Fellows represent one of the highest levels of technical achievement within the company. They are selected for their technical leadership and outstanding contributions to the company and the industry.

Perlman was most recently at Sun (where she was also a Fellow), where I met her. Actually, I had lunch with her, and although she has no reason to remember that particular lunch out of so many in her time at Sun, I do remember it very vividly. We were seated next to each other at a table of mostly people who didn’t know one another, and we started talking. She stands out in my mind as one of the nicest, unassuming, engaging people I’ve met in many years. Which is remarkable, considering her technologies make a lot of stuff we depend upon every day work

Perlman is the inventor of many fundamental technology innovations in computer networking, including the spanning tree algorithm, which is at the heart of today’s Ethernet; TRILL, an emerging standard for data center interconnection that can replace today’s spanning tree Ethernet; and scalable and robust link state routing technology that is key to the operation of today’s Internet.