Shekar AyyarFounder

United States - San Jose, California

Shekar Ayyar is the CEO and Chairman of Arrcus, a San Jose, CA based infrastructure technology company focused on edge networking solutions for Service Providers and Enterprise Customers.

Until April 2021, Ayyar was with VMware for nearly 14 years, serving most recently as executive vice president and general manager of VMware’s Telco and Edge Cloud business unit. He helped create the business unit to equip communications service providers as well as enterprises with integrated platforms for 5G, edge, telco cloud and IoT use cases.

Under his leadership, VMware expanded its core strength in virtualization to become one of the industry’s leading providers of telco cloud and NFV infrastructure solutions - enabling CSPs to rapidly develop and deliver new monetizable 5G services, significantly reduce CAPEX and OPEX costs and enhance customer experiences.

Prior to July 2019, Ayyar led VMware's strategy and corporate development efforts for nearly 10 years and also helped incubate the telco Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) focus area. Under his leadership, the company executed on dozens of acquisitions including significant platform additions such as Nicira, AirWatch, VeloCloud and Heptio, as well as a portfolio of strategic investments in technology startups.

Ayyar has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in enterprise software, communications and semiconductors. Prior to joining VMware, Ayyar held senior executive roles at BindView, Instantis and Lucent, spanning product management, marketing, and business development, and was also a consultant with McKinsey & Co. Ayyar earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and his MBA from the Wharton School, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Ayyar is also CEO of AdMY Technology Group, Inc., a SPAC focused on leveraging the convergence of Communications and Cloud Computing, catalyzed by 5G and Edge Computing. He is a Venture Partner at NTTVC, an independent venture capital firm formed in collaboration with NTT to back founders across the technology spectrum, and a member of the Board of Directors of Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR), and on the California board for Room to Read. Ayyar has advised on the Boards of a number of other companies and organizations including Puppet, the US India Business Council, and the VMware Foundation.