Radia Perlman

Biography

Radia Perlman earned herself a prestigious place in the Internet Hall of Fame for her groundbreaking work on internet protocols alongside her innovative work as a computer programmer and network engineer. In short, she’s a major player in creating the internet as we know it today and speaks publicly and passionately about the subject and has shared her knowledge at Harvard University. The internet protocol Radia developed in the 1980s, called IS-IS, still plays a vital role in routing IP today.

Among her biggest achievements was the Spanning Tree Algorithm which revolutionised Ethernet connections from the original limited-scalability, single-wire CSMA/CD, into a protocol that can handle large clouds.

Radia didn’t stop there and went on to make TRILL, or TRansparent Interconnection of Lots of Links. The renowned technical innovation lets Ethernet make optimal use of bandwidth.

The Interconnections made a science out of the complex world field of network protocols. Her past employers have included government contractor Bolt, Berenek, Newman; Digital Equipment Corp; Novell and Sun Microsystems. Her long career has seen Radia secure 80 patents, 40 of them at Sun Microsystems where she earned the sought-after title of Distinguished Engineer.

A passionate and skilled communicator Radia has shared her renowned work in a book on networking called “Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols”.

She went on to help write a book on network security called “Network Security: Private Communication in a Public World” used widely in colleges.
She has been a keynote speaker at events across the world and inspired and informed future generations with her technical expertise.
Radia has also taught at the University of Washington, Harvard University and MIT.

Radia’s awards reflect her extraordinary achievements, including the Lifetime Achievement award from Usenix and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Data Communication.