Tech Veteran Mark Halfman Joins Leading Programmable Photonics Startup
iPRONICS, the pioneering programmable photonics company that has developed the first general-purpose photonic processor that is reconfigurable by software, today announced the appointment of Mark Halfman as CEO.
With 20 years of experience in the commercialization of advanced technologies in both Silicon Valley and Boston, Mark brings his wide-ranging expertise to iPronics as the company builds on its success with early-adopter customers in its beta testing program. Mark joins iPronics having previously served as VP of Business Development and Operations for 5 years at Qualcomm, following its acquisition of Pixtronix, a deep-tech startup where he had served as VP of Business Development and Marketing. Mark further brings 10 years of prior programmable semiconductor experience from a variety of roles at Xilinx. “iPronics has made tremendous progress in the development of its general-purpose photonic chips and design software, and I look forward to leading the company as we rapidly bring reprogrammable photonic solutions to market,” said Mark Halfman.
Fueled by its recent €3.7M seed round led by Amadeus Capital Partners, iPronics is introducing a new generation of photonic circuits, in which a common hardware platform incorporating a mesh of on-chip waveguides and tunable beam couplers is programmed using software. The development of photonics in semiconductors is particularly notable as it can improve processing capabilities through operation at the speed of light. A unique element of iPronics’ solution is the reconfigurability of the chip, which unlocks new commercial applications by delivering dramatically faster time to market, with lower total cost and risk mitigation, while delivering on the promises of photonic processing: lower power consumption and latency, and faster computational speed.
The company, a spinoff of the Technical University of Valencia, was founded by Dr. Daniel Pérez- López, Professor José Capmany and Iñaki Berenguer.
“We are thrilled to have Mark lead the team as we drive to commercialization and scalability. Mark has a wealth of experience in semiconductors and optics, and we look forward to the critical role he will play in helping iPronics reach the next phase of growth.” Said Dr. Pérez- López, co-founder and CTO.
About iPronics
iPronics is making the computational power of photonics commercially affordable. It has pioneered the field of programmable photonics and developed the first general-purpose photonic processor capable of programming high-speed light signals on-chip with unprecedented flexibility. iPronics processors share a common hardware platform that is reconfigurable by software. This cost-effective solution enables the same hardware to be applied to limitless commercial applications with a voracious appetite for computational power, including 5G communication, data centers, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, quantum computing, and IoT.