When nature has work to be done, it creates a genius to execute that and Arun Netravali, Director of Agere Systems, is certainly one of those geniuses, whom nature has chosen for innovations and inventions. No wonder, Netravali holds more than 70 patents in areas of computer networks, human interfaces to machines, picture processing and digital television. But what do you call a man who was the president of Bell Laboratories, served as Lucent's chief technology officer, authored more than 170 technical papers, co-authored three books and is director of Agere Systems, a global major in semiconductors for storage, wireless data, and public and enterprise networks? Certainly a genius! An under graduate in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Netravali completed his master's and doctorate from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

He also holds an honorary doctorate from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland. After working on the space shuttle programme at NASA from 1970 to 1972, he joined Bell Labs in 1972 as a member of technical staff, became Head of the Visual Communications Research Department in 1978, and was named Director of Computing Systems Research in 1983.

From June 1999 to January 2002, Netravali was President of Bell Labs as well as Lucent's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Network Architect. In 2001, he was honoured with India's third highest civilian award, the Padam Bhushan. In 2004, he became the Director of Agere Systems and later the Managing Partner of OmniCapital Group LLC, a venture capital firm. Netravali currently serves on the board of Level 3 Communications Inc. and on the advisory board of Veridicom International Inc. Netravali is today regarded as a pioneer in the field of digital technology and led the research and development of Bell Labs' high definition television (HDTV) effort. He earned more than 70 patents during his 32-year career at AT&T and Lucent Technologies.

He is also associated with a number of technology forums. He is a member of Tau Beta Phi and Sigma Xi, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and AAAS and a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. A known name in the world of technological innovations and scientific achievements, he has received numerous awards, including the Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1991, an EMMY for the HDTV Grand Alliance in 1994, the Computers & Communications Prize in 1997, the Frederik Philips Award from the IEEE (2000), the Nasscom Medal in 2000, and the Kilby Medal from the IEEE in 2001. In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush awarded Netravali a National Medal of Technology for both his pioneering work in digital video and his technology leadership of Bell Labs. A man known for his innovations and creative solutions, Netravali has often been leveled as India's answer to Thomas Alva Edison. No doubt, his talent and genius deserve such an appreciation and acknowledgment.