Andy Hopper

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birth_date = 1953
birth_place = Warsaw, Poland
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nationality = British
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work_institutions = University of Cambridge
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Andrew Hopper CBE FRS FREng (b. 1953 in Warsaw, Poland; UK citizen since 1964) is the Professor of Computer Technology and Head of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is probably most well-known for his part in founding Acorn.

In the 2007 New Years Honours List, Hopper was made an CBE for services to the computer industry [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6217447.stm BBC NEWS | Technology | UK home computer pioneer honoured ] ] .

Biography

Hopper studied computer technology at the University of Wales, Swansea before going to the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1974 to start a PhD under the supervision of David Wheeler. Hopper was awarded his PhD in 1978.

Hopper’s PhD was in the field of communications networks and he worked with Maurice Wilkes on the creation of the Cambridge Ring and its successor, the Cambridge Fast Ring. The expertise gained in these networking projects put the Computer Laboratory at the forefront of research in communications networks. The Cambridge Ring ran at 10 megabits per second and the Cambridge Fast Ring ran at 100 megabits per second (in 1980). The Cambridge Fast Ring was further developed into ATM.

Hopper founded Orbis Ltd to develop networking technologies.

In 1978 Hopper co-founded Acorn Computers Ltd with Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry; Orbis became a division of Acorn in 1979 and continued to work with the Cambridge Ring. When Acorn was acquired by Olivetti in 1985, Hauser became vice-president for research at Olivetti, in which role he co-founded the Olivetti Research Laboratory in 1986 with Hopper; Hopper became its Director.

In 1993, Hopper set up Advanced Telecommunication Modules Ltd with Hermann Hauser. The company was acquired by Conexant Systems on 1 March 2004.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1996 and awarded their Silver Medal in 2003. In 2004 he was awarded the Mountbatten Medal. In May 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

After more than 20 years at Cambridge University Computer Laboratory he was elected to the Chair of Communications Engineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department in 1997. He returned to the Computer Laboratory as Professor of Computer Technology and Head of Department in 2004.

In 1999, Hopper gave the Royal Society’s Clifford Paterson Lecture on ‘Progress and research in the communications industry’ and was thus awarded the society’s bronze medal for achievement.

In 1997, Hopper co-founded Adaptive Broadband Ltd (ABL) which was to further develop the ‘Wireless ATM’ project started at ORL in the early 90s. ABL developed a wireless broadband technology which offered high data rates over a point-to-multipoint radio link (25 Mbit/s operating in the 5.8 GHz unlicensed frequency band). High-speed connectivity at low-cost was made possible by a combination of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and packet-on-demand bandwidth management, based on ATM technology. ABL was bought by California Microwave, Inc in 1998.

In January 2000, Hopper co-founded Cambridge Broadband which was to develop broadband fixed wireless equipment; he was non-executive chairman from 2000 - 2005.

In 2002 Hopper co-founded Ubisense Ltd to further develop the location technologies and sentient computing concepts that grew out of the ORL Active Badge system.

In 2005 he co-founded Adventiq a company developing a VNC-based system-on-a-chip.

Professor Hopper is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and has been a member of the IET 'Information Technology Sector Panel' since its inception in October 2002.

Hopper was formerly an advisor to Hauser’s venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners.

Personal life

Hopper is married with two children. He is a keen flyer with over 5,000 hours logged, and his large house near Cambridge boasts its own airstrip from which he flies his six-seater Cessna light aircraft.

References

External links

* [http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/DTG/~ah12 Andy Hopper's Home Page] at the University of Cambridge
* [http://www.alexsingleton.com/AS/Geek%20chic/FBE63E68-545D-43CA-8007-06FA8FF2845F.html Andy Hopper, IT innovator, awarded CBE]