Leonard Bosack facts for kids

Leonard X. Bosack (born 1952) is a person who helped start Cisco Systems. Cisco is a big company that makes and sells computer networking equipment and services. Leonard Bosack is known for helping to make router technology popular for businesses and homes. This technology connects computers over long distances.

In 2009, he received the Computer Entrepreneur Award. This award recognized his work in starting Cisco Systems and making routing technology widely used. This technology changed the computer industry a lot. In 1990, he left Cisco Systems. Since 2010, Bosack has been the CEO of XKL LLC. This company works on new ways to use optical networks for sending data.

Early Life and Education

Leonard Bosack was born in Pennsylvania in 1952. He finished high school in 1969. In 1973, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. After that, he worked as an engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

In 1979, he started studying computer science at Stanford University. While at Stanford, he helped with a project to connect all the university's main computers. His job was to work on the network router. This router allowed different computer networks at Stanford to share information. He met Sandy Lerner at Stanford. She was in charge of the Business School's computer lab. They got married in 1980.

Starting Cisco Systems

In 1984, Leonard Bosack and his then-partner, Sandy Lerner, started Cisco Systems. They wanted to sell a special computer device called the Advanced Gateway Server. This device was an improved version of a router built at Stanford. Bosack and Lerner built these routers in their home. They tested them using Stanford's computer network.

They first suggested that Stanford University start building and selling these routers. But the university said no. So, they decided to start their own company. They named it "Cisco," which came from the name of nearby San Francisco. A common story says they designed the first router to connect their own incompatible computers at Stanford. This way, they could send messages to each other. However, this story is not true.

Cisco's first product was developed in their garage. They started selling it in 1986, mostly by word of mouth. In their first month, Cisco earned over $200,000 in contracts. The company created new technology, like the first special cards for routers and advanced routing protocols. This helped them become leaders in the market. Cisco became a public company in 1990. This was the same year Bosack left the company.

Achievements in Networking

Besides starting Cisco Systems, Leonard Bosack played a big role in making local area network (LAN) technology widely used. He and his team at Stanford successfully connected 5,000 computers across a 16 square mile (41 square kilometer) campus. This was a major achievement because, at that time, LAN technology was very new. Their challenge was to solve problems with different computer systems working together. They created one of the first true LAN systems.

Bosack also held important technical jobs at AT&T Bell Labs. After getting his master's degree from Stanford University, he became the Director of Computer Facilities for Stanford's Computer Science Department. He was a key person in the early development of the ARPAnet, which was the beginning of today's Internet.

More recently, Bosack has worked on new fiber optic systems. These systems can send data incredibly fast. They can transmit data over 1231 kilometers (about the distance between Chicago and New York City) in just 6.071 milliseconds. Bosack believes that by using the natural properties of fiber optics, data can be sent faster. This can also be done with devices that use less power and take up less space.

Charitable Work

Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner created a charitable foundation and trust. They funded it with a large part of the money they earned from selling their Cisco stock. This foundation supports many animal welfare and science projects. For example, it helps The Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. The foundation also bought an old English manor house called Chawton House. This house was once owned by Jane Austen's brother. It is now a research center for women writers from the 18th and 19th centuries.