Cioffi, John
1999 Distinguished Alumni Award
In recognition of outstanding contributions to the development of multicarrier transmission technology for asymmetric digital subscriber lines.
John Cioffi
BSEE '78
Stanford University
An electrical engineering faculty member at Stanford since 1986, Cioffi has played a leading role in the practical development of high-speed digital modems. The ADSL technology he has developed enables ordinary phone lines to transmit data as much as 200 times faster than typical analog voiceband modems.
Cioffi founded Amati Communications Corp. in San Jose in 1991. Six years later, he sold the company to Texas Instruments. Cioffi holds more than 25 licensed patents and is an IEEE Fellow. He serves on the advisory boards of Charter Venture Group, Coppercom, Gigabit Wireless, ITEX, Marvel, and the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board.