Dirk Gates

Who is Dirk Gates?

Dirk I. Gates is an American businessman, founder and Chief Executive Officer of two companies, Xircom and Xirrus. In 1983 Gates received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from California State University, Northridge and then completed the MBA program at Pepperdine University in 1990 at the age of 27 while co-founding his first company, Xircom, with fellow entrepreneur Kirk Mathews. Xircom created the industry's first product Ethernet Pocket Adapter which allowed notebook computers to connect to Ethernet LANs, along with the industry's first Type III PC Card called the RealPort that allowed users to connect Ethernet cables and phone cables directly to the notebook without the use of dongles.

Gates served as Xircom’s president after its launch in November 1988, became Chief Executive Officer in 1991 and a short time later, in 1995, he became chairman of this rapidly expanding company. In March 2001, after 13 years in operation, Gates negotiated the sale of Xircom to Intel Corporation for US $748 Million. Gates served as vice president and general manager of mobile communications at Intel and then went on to co-found Xirrus, a wi-fi technology company, in early 2004 with Patrick Parker and Steve DeGennaro. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Xirrus until June 2012, at which point he assumed the role of Executive Chairman. Xirrus designs and sells wireless networking equipment called Wi-Fi Arrays based on the IEEE standards 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n.