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Computer Architect, Inventor & Innovator, Father of the USB

One of the most unsung technology pioneers is Ajay Bhatt, an Indian-American computer architect who is credited as being the father of the USB standard – something that almost every computing device uses today in one form or the another. Born in 1957, Bhatt graduated from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat and then went on to receive a master’s degree from the City University of New York, before joining Intel in 1990. He became Intel’s chief Client Platform Architect, but not before co-inventing USB, not to mention several other crucial standards in graphics and computer architecture that led to 31 US patents for him. In recognition to his contribution to the PCI Express standard, which underlies several of the modern computer connection standards including the high-speed Thun derbolt connection, Bhatt received an Achievement in Excellence Award in 2002. In 2009, Intel proclaimed Bhatt as a “Rockstar of Tech” through a TV advert – despite Bhatt being played by an actor, it pushed his profile into the public spotlight.

Talking about his present preoccupations in his domain of expertise, Ajay Bhatt had this to share: “These days I’m working on transforming PC experiences. We went from desktop to mobile computing and once they were mobile we made them wireless. Now we’re trying to make it ultraportable, very light, thin yet have all-day battery life and new technologies such as touch, sensing and ubiquitous connectivity. I’m working on a computer that will last all day long. If it is on standby, the battery will last more than 2 weeks and it will have all of the performance that you always had in a PC. Imagine a computer that is the best Born in 1982 in Pune, Maharashtra, Ruchi Sanghvi moved to the US for studies, gaining a bachelors and a masters degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. She started work at Oracle before of both worlds. When you’re at your desk, it has a keyboard, all of the ports in the back and a large screen, but when you want to leave your office and just enjoy simple consumption then you can eject the screen, remove it and you have a tablet. Wireless gives you great freedom in most situations. However, you always face a situation where wireless won’t work reliably.

That’s when you need one wire. That one wire is going to be USB. The same wire that allows you to talk to a peripheral can also supply enough power to the PC to charge it. “Every year there are more than 2 billion devices shipped. These days just about every phone, computer and tablet has a USB built in, and today most people can’t imagine life without USB, We’ve gone away from personal computing to ubiquitous computing so we’ll all have smart cars, smart devices, smart homes, so smartness will be all around us and on us, whether it is a watch or wearable computer or glasses. We will see smart things all around and these things, known as the ‘Internet of Things,’ will work seamlessly to give you a contiguous computing experience.”

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