Inside Teradici: Getting to know Don Listwin, Chairman

Inside Teradici is a new series that provides insights and musings from the company’s leadership team. Today, we sat down with Teradici’s Chairman of the Board, Don Listwin.

1. How did you get involved with Teradici?

As a Canadian that lives in Silicon Valley, I have the unique opportunity to invest in stellar Canadian companies. Initially, I invested in a gene sequencing software company called Genologics which recently was sold to Illumina. Through that investment, I was introduced to Teradici.

As a long time networking technologist, it was clear that the rapidly expanding broadband footprint and data center automation would drive what we now know as THE CLOUD. Teradici possessed great technology – notably a secure, high-performance protocol called PCoIP – and I believed it could play a very important role in securing and delivering apps and data from the cloud.

2. What is your favorite part of your role?

As Chair, I spend a lot of time with the CEO, Dan Cordingley, brainstorming about how best to position the company for success as the clouds and hyperclouds emerge globally. We have some exciting new things coming at the back half of 2016 that we are anxious to share with the market.

3. Which technology trend, either consumer or enterprise, do you find the most interesting or promising?

I believe the rise of the cloud and the transition to it will be the fastest tech transition we have ever seen. But regardless of whether your app runs on a legacy environment, is build on new containers or is hosted in a hypercloud, having high-speed, secure access is job one. With PCoIP and our new Pervasive Computing Platform, we solve that problem.

I believe the rise of the cloud and the transition to it will be the fastest tech transition we have ever seen.

4. If you were on a desert island and could only bring one piece of technology with you, what would it be?

Scuba gear so that at least I could feed myself for week (while I presume) I am being rescued.

5. If you could give your 25 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Join Cisco 5 years earlier than you did!

6. The Teradici Pervasive Computing Platform is all about making cloud solutions that were previously impossible, possible. Was there a moment in your career where you thought something was impossible that you made possible? 

My first gig at Cisco was IBM internetworking when that was an oxymoron. At the time, IBM was the dominant IT provider, including network. We thought it impossible to displace them but by riding on the wave that was the internet, Cisco bought IBMs networking business from them in 1999 and the impossible was achieved.

7. By the year 2020, what do you hope Teradici has accomplished?

By 2020, I hope Teradici has become recognized as an important player in enabling the transition of apps and data to the cloud in the highest performance and secure way in the industry, bar none!