{{for|the Indian cricketer|Ajit Das Gupta}} {{Short description|Indian entrepreneur (1961–2016)}} __NOTOC__ {{Infobox person | name = Ajit Gupta | image = Ajit Gupta 2.png | caption = | birth_name = Ajit Kumar Gupta | birth_date = September 12, 1961 | birth_place = Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India | death_date = October 7, 2016 (aged 55) | death_place = Fremont, California, U.S. | occupation = Founder<br />CEO | alma_mater = {{nowrap|Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee}} | spouse = Seema Gupta | children = Varun Gupta <br> Juhi Gupta | website = {{url|http://www.aryaka.com/}} | alias = }} '''Ajit Gupta''' was a Silicon Valley–based entrepreneur<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucerogers/2012/11/19/how-ajit-guptas-aryaka-is-disrupting-the-wide-area-network-business/|title= How Ajit Gupta's Aryaka is Disrupting the Wide Area Network Business |work=Forbes |date= 2012-11-19}}</ref> and the founder of Aryaka, AAyuja, JantaKhoj,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livemango.com/bwi/jantakhoj-launches-people-search-collection-agencies-lenders |title=JantaKhoj Launches People Search for Collection Agencies and Lenders |publisher=LiveMango |date=2011-09-14 |access-date=2011-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021052340/http://www.livemango.com/bwi/jantakhoj-launches-people-search-collection-agencies-lenders/ |archive-date=2011-10-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Speedera Networks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE4D6133CF934A25750C0A9639C8B63/|title= Akamai to Buy Speedera |work=The New York Times |date= March 17, 2005}}</ref> He holds 21 technology patents for Internet content delivery and global traffic management. Ajit Gupta graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in Electrical Engineering Batch of 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iitr-heritagefund.org/board-members |title= IIT Roorkee Heritage Fund |publisher= |date= |accessdate=}}</ref>

Ajit Gupta died on October 7, 2016. He was survived by his wife (also an IIT-Roorkee graduate) and two children.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

== Career == Gupta was a founder of Aryaka, a cloud-based WAN Optimization and application acceleration company. Founded in 2009, and headquartered in Milpitas, California, with offices in Bangalore, India, Aryaka employs more than one hundred and fifty people worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/22/aryaka_networks_launch/|title=Startup takes WAN optimization to the clouds|publisher=The Register|date=Sep 22, 2010}}</ref> Gupta and his team have raised US$59.5 million in four rounds of funding from InterWest Partners, Presidio Ventures, a Sumitomo Corporation Company, Trinity Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2012/07/17/scrambling-to-grow-fast-enough-when-customers-are-everywhere/|title=Scrambling to Grow Fast Enough When Customers are Everywhere|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 17, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/09/21/21venturebeat-aryaka-networks-stop-sending-the-same-files-75631.html|title=Stop Sending the Same Files|work=The New York Times|date=Sep 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432304576371281973596012|title=Aryaka Secures $15 Million in Funding |publisher=The Wall Street Journal|date=June 7, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wiredvc.com/wan-optimizer-aryaka-pockets-15m-in579-series-b/|title=Aryaka Pockets $15 Million in Series B Funding|publisher=WiredVC|date=June 7, 2011|access-date=2011-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616011748/http://www.wiredvc.com/wan-optimizer-aryaka-pockets-15m-in579-series-b/|archive-date=2011-06-16|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Gupta's first successful venture was a company he co-founded in 1999 – Speedera Networks. Speedera was acquired in 2005 by Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM).{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

After Speedera, Gupta founded AAyuja,<ref>{{cite web|title=Management Team {{!}} AAyuja|url=http://www.aayuja.com/management-team/}}</ref> a technology sales acceleration company, serving as its CEO. He was Chairman of the company. Gupta was also the Chairman and Founder at JantaKhoj,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jantakhoj.com/about/team.php|title=Team &#124; Background Verifications &#124; Background Checks &#124; JantaKhoj.com|website=www.jantakhoj.com}}</ref> an India-based premium background verification service provider, which had also built the first and the largest people search engine on Indians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jantakhoj.com lists records of nearly 40 percent of Indian population|url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/jantakhoj-com-lists-records-nearly-40-percent-indian.html|website= Yahoo News|date=2010-10-07}}</ref>

Gupta was a notable alumni of the Boys' High School & College (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh), (BHS), an independent school in Allahabad, India.

== Honors == Gupta won The Big Idea Award<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aryaka.com/news-events/press-releases-2013/aryaka-ceo-ajit-gupta-wins-big-idea-award/ |title=Aryaka CEO Ajit Gupta Wins International Business Forum's Big Idea Award for Revolutionizing Enterprise Networking}}</ref> (for the most disruptive business model in the past 12–18 months) at The Innovator Awards 2013. Gupta was recognized by the Golden Bridge Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cdn-advisor.com/aryaka-wins-multiple-accolades-from-the-2012-golden-bridge-awards/|title=Aryaka Wins Multiple Accolades from the 2012 Golden Bridge Business Awards|publisher=CDN Advisor|date=Oct 8, 2012}}</ref> for leadership and innovation in October 2012 for launching Aryaka's WAN Optimization as-a-Service offering. Gartner, Inc. recognized his company Aryaka as a 'Cool Vendor' for 'Enterprise Communications and Network Services' in April 2011. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/169235-aryaka-named-as-cool-vendor-2011-gartner.htm|title=Aryaka Named as Cool Vendor 2011|publisher=TMCnet|date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> The company was also named a GigaOM Structure 50 Company in May 2011<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gigaom.com/cloud/structure-50/8/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521090415/http://gigaom.com/cloud/structure-50/8/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 21, 2011|title=The Structure 50: The Top 50 Cloud Innovators|publisher=GigaOM|date=May 18, 2011}}</ref> and CRN recognized Aryaka as a "Hot Emerging Vendor" <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/231000455/10-hot-emerging-vendors-for-june-2011.htm?pgno=2|title=Hot Emerging Vendors|publisher=CRN|date=June 27, 2011}}</ref> in June 2011. Gupta has spoken at conferences around the world, including GigaOM Structure 2011,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://event.gigaom.com/structure/schedule/|title=GigaOM Structure 2011|publisher=GigaOM|date=June 2011|access-date=2011-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711092724/http://event.gigaom.com/structure/schedule/|archive-date=2011-07-11|url-status=dead}}</ref> Cloud Connect,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cloudconnectevent.com/cloud-computing-conference/cloud-industry-summit.php#|title=Emerging Cloud Computing Business Models|publisher=TechWeb|date=March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.tiecon.org/speaker/ajit-gupta|title=TiECON 2011|publisher=TiECON|date=May 2011}}</ref>Red Herring, Kagan Digital Media Summits, Datacenter Ventures events, and Streaming Media. A notable alumni of IIT-Roorkee, he is a founding board member of the IIT-Roorkee Heritage Fund.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iitr-heritagefund.org/board-members|title=Roorkee Heritage Fund Board Members|publisher=IIT}}</ref>

== Philanthropy == In 2003, Gupta established a philanthropy program for Speedera called "Giving Back", which provided free Internet infrastructure services to non-profit organizations including Unicef.org, Goodwill Industries International, Autism.org, and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Under Gupta's leadership, Speedera assisted UNICEF during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami by providing pro-bono services to enable UNICEF websites to accept contributions and to help victims and families communicate with each other.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=13461|title=Speedera Notes Record Web Traffic Spikes|publisher=Converge Digest|date=Jan 18, 2005|access-date=2011-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927175242/http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=13461|archive-date=2011-09-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == * [http://www.telecomramblings.com/2014/09/net-neutrality-cdns-level-playing-field-anymore/ Net Neutrality and CDNs – No level playing field anymore] * [https://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/05/23/ajit-gupta-how-to-compete-on-price-without-sacrificing-profitability/ Ajit Gupta: How to Compete on Price Without Sacrificing Profitability] * [https://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/04/23/is-the-internet-holding-back-bric-entrepreneurs/ Is The Internet Holding Back BRIC Entrepreneurs?] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141014195239/http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/5-enterprise-cloud-and-networking-trends-to-watch-in-2014#axzz2pMMgAJkq 5 Enterprise Cloud and Networking Trends to Watch in 2014] * [http://www.aryaka.com/the-cloud-is-revolutionizing-the-enterprise-wan/ The Cloud is Revolutionizing the Enterprise WAN] * [http://www.aryaka.com/why-cant-mid-market-companies-have-it-all/ Why Can't Mid-Market Companies Have It All?] * [http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/02/11/the-changing-enterprise-wan-in-the-era-of-the-cloud/ The Changing Enterprise WAN in the Era of the Cloud] * [https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucerogers/2012/11/19/how-ajit-guptas-aryaka-is-disrupting-the-wide-area-network-business/ How Ajit Gupta's Aryaka Is Disrupting the Wide Area Network Business]

== External links == * [http://www.aryaka.com/company/management-team/executives/ aryaka.com] * [http://aayuja.com/aboutaayuja/ aayuja.com] * [http://www.jantakhoj.com/about/team.php/ jantakhoj.com] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160119002634/http://www.goldenbridgeawards.com/world/index.html goldenbridgeawards.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Ajit}} <!--- Categories ---> Category:1961 births Category:2016 deaths Category:American people of Indian descent Category:American businesspeople in the computer industry Category:IIT Roorkee alumni