Endace founder scoops entrepreneurship prize

Dr Ian Graham, former dean at the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Waikato and a founder of Endace has been named New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards in Wellington.

"[Graham] has been at the forefront of network monitoring technology for more than a decade," says the convenor of the people awards panel, Gretchen Kivell. "Not only has he developed world-leading technology, he's also been instrumental in bringing it to market and making it a commercial success."

In 1995 Graham led a research team at the University of Waikato that attempted to measure latency in high-speed digital networks. The technology developed for the project delivered continuous, 100% accurate packet capture with some of the world’s most accurate time stamps. It became known as the DAG (data acquisition and generation) card and is the foundation for some of the most accurate network monitoring and network security systems globally.

In 2001, Graham founded networking monitoring and security company Endace, of which he is now chairman. It had revenues in excess of US$38 million in its fiscal year 2011 and more than 170 staff in offices internationally.

"Ian has created innovative network monitoring solutions that have enabled many large and influential organisations around the world to have accurate visibility of their networks and he continues to foster innovation and tech entrepreneurship in New Zealand," says Mike Riley, Endace's chief executive officer.