Key Personnel
The founders of Zenph® Studios, John Q. Walker and Peter J. Schwaller, are serial entrepreneurs.
They co-founded Ganymede Software in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina in 1995. The acquisition of Ganymede by NetIQ in year 2000
brought, at the time, the highest price for a private software company
in the region. Before Ganymede, the founders worked on high-speed
network architectures at IBM, in a variety of development, management,
and marketing positions.
John Q. Walker, President, was one of the four founders of Ganymede
Software. In his five years as vice president of product development,
Ganymede products consistently won “Best Product” and “Product
of the Year” awards. For example, only two companies won Network
World magazine’s “World Class Award” twice in 1999:
Dell Computers and Ganymede Software.
Dr. Walker co-authored a book on VoIP for Cisco Press. “Voice
over IP” (VoIP) is the use of data networks to transfer telephone
conversations which have been converted from analog to digital. He
also authored a book with co-founder Schwaller on portable network
programming for McGraw-Hill. He has authored dozens of technical articles,
and is frequently an invited speaker on networking, software engineering,
and musicological topics. He led all intellectual property efforts
at Ganymede, continuing these efforts at NetIQ. He was involved in
the preparation of a dozen patent filings; all have been granted patents.
He was influential in the creation of the IEEE 802 local-area network
(LAN) and the 802.11 wireless LAN (“Wi-Fi”) standards.
Walker has extensive experience in the development and management of
emerging technologies in engineering development organizations. At
IBM, he managed teams developing high-speed networking software. Dr.
Walker holds Bachelor degrees in piano and mathematics, and a Masters
of Science degree in computer science from Southern Illinois University.
He also pursued Masters-level work in music performance at the University
of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. in software engineering from the
University of North Carolina, and was named a
Distinguished Graduate Alumnus
at the UNC Graduate School’s centennial.
He holds four patents. Dr. Walker is a member of
the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS),
the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE),
and
the College Music Society (CMS).
Joel L. Webb, Vice President of Business Development, is a
seasoned corporate executive. Joel managed the business development
for IBM’s embedded software in Asia. He identified a market
for Linux-based Internet-connected devices, and negotiated joint-development
agreements with eight companies. At the same time, he led a development
effort for the first embedded Linux-based home gateway and handheld
devices for IBM.
Mr. Webb managed architecture, design, and development of IBM’s
advanced communications systems. He managed strategy within the Networking
Hardware Division, strategy for corporate application software development,
and managed a large software development laboratory. He headed the
first development team doing peer-to-peer networking for the PC, named
one of the Ten Best Programs of the year. He holds a Bachelor degree
in Computer Systems from Florida Atlantic University.
Peter J. Schwaller, co-founder and director, also co-founded Ganymede
Software at age 27, and served as the chief programmer there for a
team of fifty developers. He holds five patents for his innovative
designs, which were implemented in Ganymede’s successful products.
He served as a chief software architect at NetIQ Corporation.
In previous work in IBM’s Networking Hardware Division, he developed
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) device driver software. He was a founding
member of IBM's APPC Market Enablement team (“Advanced Program-to-Program
Communication” – APPC – was IBM’s networking
forerunner to the “Internet Protocol” – IP). He led
a team of programmers who designed, developed, and tested a set of
standard, portable network applications. These applications have been
shipped in products by IBM, Microsoft, and other vendors. He received
an Outstanding Contribution Award in IBM for this work. Schwaller co-authored
a book for McGraw-Hill on portable networking programming which received
rave reviews. He has written for several technical journals. Schwaller
received a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from
Duke University.
Mikhail Krishtal, Director of Music Research and
Production, is a composer, music theorist, researcher and educator.
Upon receipt of his DMA from the Moscow Conservatory in 1994, he taught
there at the Department of Composition and conducted research at the
Theremin Center for Electro-Acoustic Music. Dr. Krishtal has composed
music in both instrumental and electro-acoustic domains.
His primary music theory interests are in compositional and
analytic methods of the Neue Wiener Schule.
His research in the electro-acoustic field has focused on
integrating the genuine qualities of traditional performance with the
utmost flexibility and precision of electronic music.
From 1999, he continued his research in the United States,
including the Duke University Musical Instrument Collection.
Original Performance, New Recording!
