Dave Welch
21 - 22 October 2025
Juniper Networks Aspiration Dome
Sunnyvale, California USA
Events
Dave Welch
AttoTude | CEO
About the Speaker
David F. Welch, Ph.D., founder and CEO of AttoTude, has over forty years of experience in the fiber optics and optical communications industries both in technology development and strategy, and as a business leader, including corporate management from initial start-up through a public company with multi-billion dollar revenues. From 1985 to 2001, he was at SDL (formerly Spectra Diode Laboratories) as CTO and VP of Corporate Development, where he successfully established a differentiated technology and product strategy, resulting in the merger with JDS Uniphase. In 2001, he co-founded Infinera. As founder/CTO/President, he was responsible for establishing the key differentiating technology, photonic integrated circuits, and the implementation into a series of network-managed product lines. The success of the technology has positioned Infinera as the leader in optical communications. Most recently, Dave founded AttoTude, which is aligned with highly differentiated technology that addresses power, cost, and scale issues in data center networking applications.
He holds over 200 patents and has authored over 300 technical publications. In recognition of his technical contributions, he has been awarded the OSA’s Adolph Lomb Medal, Joseph Fraunhofer Award and John Tyndall Award, the IET’s JJ Thompson Medal for Achievement in Electronics, and the IEEE Ernst Weber Managerial Leadership Award. He is a Fellow of the OSA and the IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Welch holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
