Dave Eckard
David Eckard joined Alcatel in 1998 and is currently the CTO for the Fixed Networks Division of Nokia overseeing the technology development for products relating to the xDSL, cable and optical access markets. David received his BS degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and his MS degree in Computer Networking from North Carolina State University.
David initially began his career at Nokia as an ASIC designer developing the industry’s first commercial ASICs for the passive optical networking market enabling Nokia to become a market leader in optical access. Later as the Director of Systems Engineering he continued to help evolve and shape the access products for Nokia. Under David’s technical leadership as CTO, Nokia is disrupting the global cable market with a pioneering virtualized access platform, enriching their existing product portfolio with innovations for the home and pushing the envelope of speed with next generation access technologies.
He is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, holds several patents in optical access and has represented Nokia at ITU and FSAN standardization forums for next generation optical access networks.