Stephen Ide

STEPHEN IDE is Founder and President of North Andover-based Interspeed
(NASDAQ: ISPD), a DSL enabling company that has quickly gone from start
up to industry leader. Mr. Ide is one of the industry’s foremost experts
on DSL technology, having been involved with the technology since its
inception. In 1996, Mr. Ide, a senior VP who helped take Brooktrout to
$100 million in sales from its days as a start-up, announced he was
leaving to create a start-up company. Brooktrout’s President, Eric
Giler, told him that he didn’t want to lose him and, because Mr. Ide’s
new company was going to compete in the fast-growth high speed Internet
access market, that Brooktrout would fund the new venture. To Mr. Ide,
this made a lot of sense as Interspeed would not have to fight for
venture capital funding and could also leverage Brooktrout’s
relationships with the world’s leading telephone companies. This past
fall, Mr. Ide took Interspeed through a successful IPO and is continuing
to build a strong company and leading brand in the DSL market. He is
also a proven industry visionary, having previously led two local
companies from start-up to IPOs (Computer Telephone and Brooktrout
Technology).