About Swarmcast
Swarmcast is dedicated to transforming the Internet into a reliable medium for distributing high-quality video. The company mission is to enable content providers to engage global audiences through high-quality viewing experiences.
Swarmcast's multi-source streaming platform enables the delivery of HD video, rock solid live and on-demand streaming, and accelerated downloads, while managing delivery costs. We are currently powering some of the most demanding media destinations on the Internet. Enabling content providers to scale to millions of simultaneous users, Swarmcast offers the most reliable distribution of high quality viewing experiences over the Internet.
Headquartered in both Minneapolis and Tokyo. Swarmcast is privately held and funded by Bridge Capital Fund (BCF) and Nippon Venture Capital.
Management
Justin Chapweske, Founder & CEO
Justin is the original inventor of "file swarming," a content delivery method that breaks large files into smaller data packets to efficiently exchange them over the Internet. In 2001, Justin founded Swarmcast to develop and market his file swarming technology. He was awarded a patent in 2007 for file swarming, which includes technologies commonly referred to as peer-to-peer, grid content delivery and multi-source streaming. With more than 20 years of experience in software engineering, Justin steers both technical and business strategy of Swarmcast. He pursued studies in Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Minnesota.
Ry4an Brase, Co-Founder & CTO
Ry4an co-founded Swarmcast with Justin Chapweske in 2001. He is an expert in file transfer and content delivery technologies, and played an integral role in writing the code for mutli-source streaming technology. Ry4an holds the position of CTO at Swarmcast, and is responsible for all aspects of the company's technical direction. His key functions include overseeing operations and software development, as well as coordinating with the business development team to create Swarmcast's long-term product roadmap. With more than a decade of software engineering experience, Ry4an honed his talents at a select group of companies. Notably, Ry4an worked with the OpenCola team to build one of the Web's very first social aggregator sites. Ry4an attended the University of Minnesota, where he studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Tomohito Suga, CFO
Before joining Swarmcast in 2007, Tomohito headed finance and accounting at Rakuten, Inc., was an auditor at Price Waterhouse Coopers and served as the Corporate Planning General Manager of Seiko Giken Co., leading the company through a $3 billion IPO. He holds a CPA of Japan, a Bachelor of Economics from Keio University in Japan and an MBA from Ross School of Business at University of Michigan.
Chad Tippin, VP of Engineering
An expert in video delivery technologies, Chad brings more than 15 years of leadership experience in engineering and software development to his role as VP of engineering at Swarmcast. In his current position, Chad manages all of the company's software engineers and their projects, in addition to collaborating with the CTO and CEO on technical strategy. Before joining Swarmcast in 2004, Chad led software development teams and spearheaded engineering initiatives at TRC, a subsidiary of Perot Systems, and Nayna Networks. Prior to working at Swarmcast, he served as the CTO of Jibe, Inc., a peer-to-peer Internet TV company. Chad holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University.
Kelly Egan, VP of Business Development
Kelly brings over 15 years of entertainment and technology industry experience to Swarmcast and is responsible for the company's sales and marketing efforts. Kelly was previously the Director of Entertainment Business Development and Strategy at Best Buy. Prior experience includes global entertainment strategy at IBM Global Services and international film distribution at Kegan Entertainment, a movie distribution company he founded. He holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Ralph Jenson, VP of Network Operations
As VP of Network Operations, Ralph creates and manages Swarmcast's servers and network infrastructure. Ralph garnered more than 25 years of experience in network engineering at organizations including Honeywell Solid State Electronics, Cray Research, LogLogic and NextNet Wireless. He was the co-founder and CTO of gofast.net and CTO of Aravox Technologies, the inventors of the Session Border Controller. Ralph attended the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University, where he pursued his Masters degree in Computer Science.
Osamu Saito, Head of Sales - Japan
Before joining Swarmcast in 2007, Osamu headed Sales at ClubIT Japan, the second largest and most profitable content delivery network in Japan. He also held various senior marketing and sales positions at Softbank. Osamu holds a degree in Business Administration from Waseda University in Japan.
Toshi Aizawa, Head of Engineering - Japan
Prior to joining Swarmcast in 2007, Toshi served as the director of technical operations at Akamai, and worked with industry-leading media companies in Japan and Asia Pacific. He also held various senior engineering positions at Softbank and Macromedia. He studied science, and spent a lot of his time in computer rooms at Tokyo University.