Arnob Roy has over 25 years of experience in developing products in the telecom, networking, semiconductor and electronic design automation space. He co-founded Tejas Networks in 2000, and believes that his journey of building the company and bringing it to a stage where its products are used by service providers, utilities, and defence and government agencies in over 70 countries is the most exciting phase of his career so far. “We were breaking new ground with the vision of starting a technology product company and growing it into a global brand. This was not something that had been done successfully before, so there was not much previous experience to leverage from. It was a learning experience all the way,” he says.
As president of optical products, he leads Tejas’s R&D team in the development of leading-edge and innovative optical transmission and data networking products. “My biggest challenge is to be able to correctly anticipate industry changes and ensure that the products conceived and designed are the right fit for our target markets,” he says.
The challenges notwithstanding, Roy believes it is an exciting time to be in the optical networking industry. “The explosion in high speed broadband and data services is driving large investments in optical communications equipment both globally and in India. India has emerged as the world’s largest carrier of data traffic and the fastest growing optical equipment market. Going forward, with the arrival of 5G, we expect this trend to accelerate further,” he adds.
Before co-founding Tejas, Roy held senior management positions at Synopsys, Inc., where he was the founding member of the company’s Indian team, and at Cadence Design Systems. He believes in encouraging creativity and innovative thinking within his team and inspiring people to think and act like leaders.
Roy has a B.Tech. in electronics and electrical communication engineering from IIT Kharagpur, and an MS in computer science from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA. He likes to spend his time away from work with his family, which comprises his wife, who is also a technology professional and is working in a senior leadership position with a global MNC, and their two children, both pursuing higher education. A sports enthusiast, Roy says, “Sports has always been a significant part of my life beyond work, whether playing or watching. Playing tennis is a part of my morning routine when I am not travelling.”
