News for and about the Internet2 community

[Jon Bashor <>]

Department of Energy's ESnet Names Steve Cotter to
Head Network Serving Scientists around the Globe

BERKELEY, Calif.—Steve Cotter, who has 10 years of experience in 
designing and deploying research and commercial networks at the national 
and international scale, has been named as the new head of ESnet, the 
Department of Energy's high-speed network supporting science around the 
world.

Cotter, who most recently served as Google's network deployment manager 
for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, assumes his new job on Friday, 
August 29. ESnet, or the Energy Sciences Network, is managed by Lawrence 
Berkeley National Laboratory for the Department of Energy. ESnet 
provides direct connections to more than 40 DOE sites, as well as fast 
interconnections to more than 100 other networks. Funded principally by 
DOE's Office of Science, ESnet services allow scientists to make 
effective use of unique DOE research facilities and computing resources, 
independent of time and geographic location.

"Steve Cotter brings to this job exactly the right combination of 
experience in all aspects of network design, development, deployment and 
operation," said LBNL Associate Laboratory Director Horst Simon. "On top 
of that, Steve is already familiar with ESnet’s staff and operations and 
has strong connections to the research network community. We are 
thrilled by his decision to lead ESnet."

Before joining Google in 2007, Cotter worked for Internet2, a high 
performance network serving more than 300 institutions in the research 
and education community in the U.S. Since 2006, ESnet and Internet2 have 
worked as partners in building ESnet’s next-generation infrastructure. 
Cotter succeeds Bill Johnston, who is retiring from Berkeley Lab after 
more than 35 years.

"While at Internet2, I worked closely with ESnet on the design of their 
new infrastructure and became familiar with their research community and 
staff, a very impressive group," Cotter said. "Bill Johnston is leaving 
some big shoes to fill, but it's an exciting challenge and I welcome it. 
The services ESnet provides are not just good for the research 
community, but also the public by supporting important research in areas 
like global climate change and new and renewable energy sources."

Based on his experience in the commercial sector, Cotter said he sees 
that ESnet is not alone in pushing the envelope of advanced networking 
and believes the entire community can benefit from continuing ESnet’s 
strong record of building alliances with other organizations to advance 
the state of networking. Key areas include transferring massive sets of 
scientific data and supporting “cloud” computing.

"Google is an incredible place to work and I learned a lot, but ESnet is 
doing some amazing things as well," Cotter said. “This is an opportunity 
to be part of a great team and to make an impact.”

Cotter brings a broad range of experience with other leading firms to 
his new role. While serving as Internet2's Deputy Operations Officer, 
their close collaboration with ESnet's OSCARs project and others in the 
research community resulted in the rollout of Internet2’s Dynamic 
Circuit Network – delivering on NSF’s Cyberinfrastructure vision that 
the network should be available as a schedulable, on-demand resource 
like supercomputers are today. Cotter said “I was also the CEO of 
Internet2's subsidiary FiberCo — brokering dark fiber acquisitions and 
providing consulting/project management services to the higher education 
and research community.”

Prior to then, Cotter was assigned from Internet2 to National 
LambdaRail, where he led the build out and design of their DWDM (dense 
wave division multiplexing) and IP network. He got his start in optical 
network technologies while an engineer at Cisco Systems and also served 
as a Director in SBC Global Communications' (now AT&T) engineering and 
construction departments. He is well known in the networking community, 
having been a speaker at networking meetings and conferences in the U.S. 
and Europe.

Although he has extensive experience in industry, Cotter said his 
approach to management was shaped during his eight years as a combat 
helicopter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. Cotter led missions in both 
the former Yugoslavia and Somalia and Liberia in Africa, facing 
everything from hostile fire to the most difficult weather conditions.

"You learn to focus on the mission at hand, to push forward no matter 
what obstacles you come across, and to take care of those you are 
responsible for," Cotter said. "You rely on your people to do their job, 
to do it well and to work as a team. I’ve carried over that philosophy 
of having faith in those who work for you by letting them do their job 
and getting out of their way."

Raised in New Jersey, Cotter attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he 
earned his bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering. He earned an 
MBA from Boston University and has completed about 75 percent of his 
coursework toward a master’s degree in Information Economics, Management 
and Policy at the University of Michigan.

Cotter and his wife, Pallas, have two young sons and live in Davis, Calif.

About ESnet and Berkeley Lab
ESnet is funded by the DOE Office of Science to provide network and 
collaboration services in support of the agency's research missions. A 
pioneer in providing high-bandwidth, reliable connections, ESnet enables 
researchers at national laboratories, universities and other 
institutions to communicate with each other using the collaborative 
capabilities needed to address some of the world's most important 
scientific challenges. The ESnet Department is part of the Computational 
Research Division at Berkeley Lab. For more information about ESnet 
visit: http://www.es.net/

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located 
in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research 
and is managed by the University of California. Visit our Website at 
www.lbl.gov/
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Contact: Jon Bashor
LBNL Computing Sciences Communications Manager

510-486-5849