ECE alumnus John Cioffi honored by The Economist

The Economist has named ECE alumnus John Cioffi (BSEE ’78) as its 2010 Computing and Telecommunications Innovation Award winner for his advances in digital subscriber line (DSL) technology.

Cioffi is known as the father of DSL, which is used by telephone companies to provide high-speed broadband over standard copper telephone lines. As a 23-year-old engineer in the 1970s, he calculated that high-speed data transmission was possible, at speeds of up to 1.5 megabits per second, over telephone lines. He was virtually laughed out of the room by his seniors and it took him more than a decade to prove them wrong. His subsequent research at Stanford University in the 1980s laid the foundations for DSL, which is now the most widespread form of fixed broadband. Cioffi continues to increase DSL’s speed and reliability through ASSIA, a company of which he is founding CEO.

Commenting on the award decision by a panel of independent judges, Tom Standage, Digital Editor at The Economist said, “John Cioffi is a prolific innovator, with more than 400 papers and over 100 patents to his name. There is no question that his pioneering work on DSL has both succeeded commercially and changed the world for the better. Cioffi continues to improve the speed of internet links through ASSIA, a company that helps telecom operators tune the performance of their DSL lines. His incredible tenacity in promoting the idea of DSL is an example to innovators everywhere, and has more than earned him this recognition.” In April 2010, Cioffi was recognized with the College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service. He received the ECE Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999.

John Cioffi was the fifth of this year’s winners to be announced. For the full list of award winners to date, visit http://www.economistconferences.co.uk/innovation/2010winners.