Dr. Pantas Sutardja is a tech icon, storage pioneer, and philanthropist . He’s co-founder of storage and semiconductor innovator, Marvell Technology Group. And, Dr. Sutardja just launched Latticework, Inc. from stealth mode.
His cloud-edge solutions tackle storage and bandwidth issues related to skyrocketing data and video usage. The self-funded company, which is headquartered in San Jose, California and now has over 100 employees around the world, has invested in and built its own cloud service infrastructure called LatticeNest to power its debut product, Amber - a personal hybrid cloud platform that lets people protect their digital privacy and data.
Let’s learn some more about this tech leader and discover how this digital storage pioneer has spent a lifetime creating solutions that align with today’s digital workplace and lifestyles.
How it All Began
Dr. Sutardja grew up in Singapore. In his early teens, he became fascinated with electronics. This led him to pursue an education centered on technology, including attending the University of California, Berkeley where he received BS, MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.
He got his first job at the IBM Almaden Research Center where he created the first CMOS (Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) read channel chip at IBM. This type of innovation led to innovations like low static power consumption and noise immunity, laying the foundation for his passion for uncovering ground-breaking technology solutions.
From there, Dr. Sutardja and his brother created Marvell Technology Group Limited, which became a publicly traded, global storage leader. The company went on to sell several billion storage chips.
Dr. Sutardja held the positions of board director and chief technology officer for 19 years. During that time, he led Marvell’s technology development from a startup to more than $3 billion per year in revenue and a market capitalization of more than $8 billion, with more than 7,000 employees spanning many countries.
Dr. Sutardja accumulated more than 300 U.S. patents related to semiconductor and storage system technologies. As a public company board member, he also gained experience transforming a company from a startup to a high-growth organization.
Driven to Create Change
Early Amber Sketches
Throughout his career, Dr. Sutardja’s mission has been to provide consumers with the ultimate platform for privacy, control and security. He has a passion for helping customers fulfill their business needs and focuses on developing solutions that leverage automation, event-driven security and compliance. Dr. Sutardja is also focused on developing projects that change education, improve the world, and enable new industry.
With Amber, the company’s vision is to make technology that users can leverage to preserve and protect digital memories for future generations. His philosophy also centers on the idea that users can reclaim personal data that already exists in the world. It’s this sense of empowerment through a technology solution that is so important to Dr. Sutardja. Therefore, this recent development offers a way to increase access to information without compromising privacy.
“Accessibility for all” is important to Dr. Sutardja. That’s why he decided that it was not necessary to make Amber a subscription model nor was it necessary to price it so high so that it was not realistic for most people. He even included a built-in router. This means fewer devices have to be purchased because Amber helps deliver maximum WiFi speed to stream throughout the home while also storing and protecting personal data.
Making the World Better Through Philanthropy
Dr. Sutardja is also actively involved in the community. He established the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at UC Berkeley. This is an academic center where engineers and scientists can gain the necessary skills to innovate, develop, and commercialize technology solutions for global consumer and business issues.
Since 2005, the center has played an integral role in expanding the entrepreneurial structure at the university. This includes developments like SkyDeck, the Fung Institute , the Engineering Leadership Professional Program , Global Venture Lab , and an extensive ecosystem of Silicon Valley and Global partners.
The Center is known for creating the Berkeley Method, an internationally recognized approach to teaching technology entrepreneurship to university students, executives, and tech professionals. The center also collaborates with the Jacobs Institute for Design , the Haas Business School , and the CITRIS Foundry.
Additionally, Dr. Sutardja and his wife founded a private foundation that frames their philanthropic work. Known as the Pantas and Ting Sutardja Foundation, it focuses on education and medical as the key areas for their philanthropy.
Why Create a New Company?
Not content with his accomplishments to date and driven by this mission to create change in the world, Dr. Sutardja developed his latest venture that launched in 2014. Powered by LatticeNest, Amber delivers the convenience of the cloud and peace of mind that existing public cloud services cannot offer.
He noticed the huge consumer demand for more storage and bandwidth. Dr. Sutardja noted that consumers are not completely aware of the risk of massive hacks and loss of data privacy until only recently when more hacks were shared in the media. Therefore, he wanted to give control over digital data back to the consumer to secure their digital assets.
Amber’s Hybrid Cloud Platform solution provides user identity management and routing services for data - unlike any other third party public cloud solutions available (such as Google or Dropbox). Users store their data in Amber and manage access while mitigating any compromise in privacy or control from existing public cloud only services. This allows them to replay their digital life at any point and share it with whomever they like - giving them full convenience to access data without compromising privacy.
From his research and technological development to his passion for social change to his philanthropic efforts, Dr. Sutardja serves as a model for other young minds who are just as passionate about technology and are ready to deliver the next generation of innovation.
