My graduate student experience at Purdue was important for its focus on engineering-oriented research and curriculum and for its top-notch computer and network facilities.

 

Ji Zhang is co-founder, chairman, and CTO of Exavio, Inc., a digital media networking startup company founded in 2002, with operations in both the United States and China. Exavio enables cost-effective, high-quality streaming of digital assets over ubiquitous IP networks and focuses on media infrastructure markets that require the ability to store and distribute high-quality (DVD or broadcast-quality) streaming media. Zhang was also co-founder and CTO of V-bits, a management and networking company which is a leader in digital video bandwidth.

While employed with DiviCom, Inc., from 1994 through 1997, Zhang was a key contributor to its industry award-winning adaptive pre-filter and dual-pass encoding algorithms in digital video compression. The products and technology developed by Zhang have become part of today’s leading digital video distribution networks, such as Echostar, DirecTV, and other operators worldwide.

Zhang received his BSEE from Tsinghua University, his MSEE from Princeton University, and his PhD from Purdue University in 1989. He served as Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1989 through 1990 and Assistant Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1990 through 1994.

Zhang holds eight patents on digital video compression, media storage, and networking and has an additional 16 patents pending. He received the NSF Research Initiation Award in 1990, has been a member of IEEE since 1984, and has appeared as speaker and panelist in over 20 industry forums and conventions.