By: Paul Shieh Founder & CEO, Linker Networks
Hewlett Packard Ventures participated in a Series A funding round for Linker Networks, which provides mobile networking solutions for cloud applications and communications service providers. Paul Shieh is the founder and CEO of Linker Networks, and here he discusses his own experience in the telecommunications industry and what opportunities he sees for mobile networking worldwide.
Q: Tell us about your background in the tech industry. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been in the mobile telecommunications industry for more than 20 years. I was part of the founding team of mobile networking provider Starent Networks, helping to expand the employee base and grow from a startup to a company winning global commercial contracts. Starent filed for IPO in 2007 and was later acquired by Cisco for $2.9B in 2009.
After Cisco, I founded Linker Networks in 2011, which provides mobile networking solutions and an enterprise SaaS platform for cloud applications and communications service providers. At Linker, our objective is to offer solutions that create new methods of approaching the mobile Internet.
Q: What distinguishes Linker from other players in the mobile networking space?
The Linker portfolio fills the gaps in today’s mobile telecommunications market. Our Linker Intelligence Mobile Application Engine (MAE) brings together infrastructure, operations and networking into a centrally managed cloud environment for carriers, enterprises and Over-The-Top (OTT) players.
We also develop dynamic data mining technology to help carriers better understand real-time mobile data, helping to stabilize subscriber costs for data, voice and SMS services and bring even more mobile application services to the network.
Lastly, our cloud services are based on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined mobile Networking (SDmN) architecture to provide more efficient and precise mobile intelligence and greater accessibility to mobile applications. We provide the policy, network, and data visualization for flexible planning and deployment of the entire mobile network.
Q: What opportunity do you see for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) in China?
With the largest population in the world and a rapidly growing mobile phone market to match, China residents today are struggling with expensive data rates and data roaming. Linker is working to help reduce the cost of data plans while supporting mobile applications, benefiting both mobile operators and OTT players. We support worldwide data roaming to allow users to continue to use devices and data when traveling internationally.
Q: Tell us about your experience working with HP, first as a customer and now as an investor.
Linker already partners with HP and I’m excited to bring this collaboration to the next level. Earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, Linker announced a partnership with HP to leverage the HP Helion and HP OpenNFV platforms, helping to drive adoption of NFV and cloud solutions in China. This partnership combines Linker’s mobile telecom expertise with HP’s broad global reach and IT leadership, enabling us to deliver a unique mobile telecom virtualization and mobile enterprise SaaS platform that opens the possibilities of collaboration in a growing global mobile ecosystem. With HP as a partner, we will leverage HP’s robust sales and channel infrastructure to jointly seek mobile and cloud technology opportunities in China first, then extend into the global market.
Working with teams across HP’s Communications and Media Solutions, NFV and HP Helion businesses, Linker and HP will help drive adoption of NFV and cloud solutions globally.