Drew Major (born June 17, 1956) was one of the founders of Novell and the lead architect and developer of NetWare operating system for over 15 years. In 1981 Drew and his partners Kyle Powell, Dale Neibaur, and Mark Hurst saw value in enabling PCs to share files and other resources via a local area network (LAN). By 1991, NetWare was used in most LAN deployments, with 75% of the market for network operating systems. One magazine estimated that NetWare’s $1 billion in yearly sales was driving many times that amount in network and server hardware, PCs, consulting, and other value-added sales.
Major later led Novell in a move to supply enterprise directory services. In 2000 Drew started Move Networks, which recently has built technology that reliably streams video over the Internet. Major left Novell in 2003 and, with Paul Sherer (ex-3Com CTO responsible for Ethernet’s success), founded Arroyo Video Solutions, which developed video servers for the cable industry and phone companies. In 2006 Cisco acquired Arroyo Video Solutions and Drew became a Cisco Systems Fellow, continuing to focus on internet content and services delivery.
In 1995, BYTE magazine named Drew Major one of the 20 Most prominent People for the preceding 20 years of the computer industry. He was inaugurated into the National Computer Industry Hall of Fame in 1999.
Major received a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in 1980, and graduated with honors in mathematics and computer science. He was born in California but has lived most of his life in Utah. He currently resides in Orem, Utah with his wife, Mary, and their four sons.
Famous quotes containing the words drew and/or major:
“As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn’t make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting—the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.”
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