ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet2 today announced that Stephen (Steve) Wolff, widely considered as one of the original architects and fathers of the Internet, will join its staff as Interim Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In this role, Wolff will be responsible for developing a strategic technical roadmap for the organization to ensure the research and education community is positioned as the focal point for network technology innovation and development. Wolff will also have primary responsibility for building a portfolio of services that significantly enhance Internet2 member institutions leading edge research efforts. In this role, Wolff will serve as the main liaison to multiple research communities as well as to the Internet2 Research Advisory Council (RAC) and important federal science offices including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy Office of Science.

Dave Lambert, Internet2 president and CEO said, "We can thank Steve's pioneering vision for providing the foundations of the Internet as we know it today. Welcoming someone with the background and instinct of Steve's into the Internet2 leadership is not only an honor, it is extremely exciting for us all. As Internet2 heads into a new chapter of its history, we are excited by the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead. Steve's expert guidance will be of tremendous value as we reaffirm our strong commitment to supporting research and seek to unlock the benefits of that research to citizens across the U.S. and the world."

Wolff added, "In this time of accelerating change in networking and IT generally, I am energized by the opportunity to strengthen ties with research groups and other sources of innovation, and to engage in a grand collaboration that will tap the insights and inventiveness of our community not only to develop a portfolio of new services, but also to define and articulate a technical strategic path forward for Internet2."

Wolff brings over 40 years of leadership in the development, management, and operations of advanced Internet technologies. He joins Internet2 from Cisco where he served as the Technical Manager in Corporate Consulting Engineering in the Office of the CTO, with responsibility for technical relations with the e-infrastructure community worldwide. His initial work at Cisco included the partnership with Internet2 to develop its original Abilene Network in 1998.

Before joining Cisco in 1995, Wolff was Division Director for Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure at the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this role, Wolff led the development of NSFNET, which eventually became commercialized into the Internet of today. Wolff also led the NSF's Gigabit Testbed project  - jointly funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - which studied the feasibility of IP networking at gigabit speeds. Prior to NSF, Wolff served as a communications technology researcher for the United States Army for 14 years where he led a team, which introduced the UNIX operating system to Army labs and participated in the development of the ARPANET.

Wolff is a member of AAAS and ACM, a Life Member of IEEE, and a Pioneer Member of the Internet Society (ISOC) from which he received the prestigious Jonathan B. Postel Service Award in 2002. Wolff earned a Bachelors of Science with Highest Honors in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College in 1957, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1961. In 1962 he continued his studies with post-doctoral work at Imperial College under Colin Cherry and Dennis Gabor.

Wolff will begin his role on April 4, 2011 reporting directly to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Internet2 and will be based in its Washington, D.C. office. Randy Frank who formerly served as Internet2 CTO will return from an extended medical leave in a complementary role within the organization. The search for a permanent CTO will coincide with Wolff's term.

About Internet2

Internet2 is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium. Led by the research and education community since 1996, Internet2 promotes the missions of its members by providing both leading-edge network capabilities and unique partnership opportunities that together facilitate the development, deployment and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Internet2 brings the U.S. research and academic community together with technology leaders from industry, government and the international community to undertake collaborative efforts that have a fundamental impact on tomorrow's Internet. 

For more information: http://www.internet2.edu

SOURCE Internet2