Anjan Ghosal, CEO, IntelliNet Technologies

Like many wireless industry leaders, IntelliNet Technologies CEO Anjan Ghosal relies on professional experience to drive his business success. But his entrepreneurial beginnings date back well before he earned his chemical engineering degree from the elite Indian Institute of Technology, let alone his tenures at the former Bellcore and MCI: At the age of 12, he started a library.

“There was a market need,” Ghosal said. “I had more people than I had books. I needed capital, so I selected kids with a lot of books and told them, ‘Lend me your books and I'll make you a free member.’ Suddenly, I was swimming in books.”

Applying that same philosophy — pinpointing the market need first, and then figuring out a way to address it — Ghosal launched IntelliNet in 1992. “We provide the plumbing to build next-generation applications,” he said. Of course, that description could fit any vendor claiming a spot on the leading edge of wireless applications. The difference is that Atlanta-based IntelliNet tends to build most of its applications off the existing signaling network, not in a vacuum.

IntelliNet recently jumped on the Wi-Fi gravy train, creating the first integrated 802.11/GPRS convergence system for Wi-Fi hot spots. “You're looking at 20,000 hot spots in the world right now,” Ghosal said. “The issue is the business case. One thing we did was make it easier for a carrier to bring those hot spots into the network.”

Ghosal has taken other bits and pieces of his experience and integrated them into IntelliNet. MCI and Bellcore not only gave him knowledge of the wireless world, but both made him realize that working for a smaller company was the best way to get the experience he wanted. “The good thing about a small company is that you get to learn about all aspects of business,” he said. “You don't get isolated.”