What sets Dr. Sharma apart in the telecommunications domain are the following:

Independent Industry Expert, Technologist and Advisor in Silicon Valley for 15+ Years

Dr. Sharma has been an independent industry expert/technology advisor/consultant for 15+ years, longer than many of his peers. He is, therefore, one of the very few contemporary independent technical advisors in telecommunications in Silicon Valley that has served as such for so long.

Known by Professionals in the Overall Telecom Industry & Active in the Industry

Dr. Sharma and Metanoia, Inc. are known by professionals in the overall telecom industry generally, rather than in just the forensics industry (attorney or legal professionals). Dr. Sharma is active and visible in the industry – at conferences, events, industry gatherings – chairing, holding panels, being on panels, interacting with industry leaders, participating, and thus is more broadly connected and plugged in to new developments.

Clients Span a Very Broad Spectrum of the Telecommunications & Networking Diaspora

Over the years, Dr. Sharma’s work and clients have spanned a very broad spectrum of the telecommunications and networking industry worldwide (from chip/ASIC vendors, to software and system vendors, to technology houses, and service providers of different sizes on different continents), as opposed to coming primarily from forensic work. This allows him to be engaged with the latest advances in telecom technology and practice.

Broad Standards Bodies Experience - For Technologies that Power the Internet Today

Dr. Sharma has experience working with, and contributing directly to, some of the core Internet standards at the IETF (The Internet Engineering Task Force) – the place where Internet standards get specified, and have been for the last 25+ years. In forensic work, this actual prior involvement in/experience with the standards-setting process is extremely useful to appreciate the history of technology, its evolution over time, and its value for the future.

Dr. Sharma was involved in the IETF during one of the most productive periods of IETF history, when the standards for technologies like Diffserv, MPLS/GMPLS, Layer 2 VPNs, Layer 3 VPNs, Traffic engineering, and the like were being finalized. These are all of the technologies that power the Internet and practically its entire underlying infrastructure today.

Areas of Expertise Span a Distinct Range of Telecom Technologies

His areas of expertise span a distinct range of telecom technologies, compared to other specialists. Dr. Sharma has worked in several key technology areas: in optical networking (graduate work and early career), wireless networking (Master’s work, during his tenure at IIT Bombay as a faculty member, and thereafter), packet networking and Internet design & architecture (throughout his career), and the emerging areas of data-center and cloud networking (past few years).

This gives him a 360-degree perspective into how these technologies are converging and how they will need to work together, which is crucial to understanding the current and future implications of many of the patents, and the software and hardware products that he is called upon to examine or analyze.

Manager & Owner of the 9,900-Professional Strong "Carrier Ethernet" Community, Focused on Solving Contemporary Technical Problems in Networking

Dr. Sharma manages & moderates, since early 2012, a very vibrant 9,900+ member strong group called “Carrier Ethernet – The Technology, Strategy, and Business of Modern Packet Networking” (with members from 123+ nations, 2,236+ companies, and all 6 inhabited continents) that has been growing by about 1500+ members annually since 2012.

The Group on LinkedIn consists of telecom industry professionals (from engineers and architects to product management, sales, marketing and executive management) where the members solve technical problems via discussions almost on a daily/weekly basis.

The Group focuses on analysis and commentary on many aspects of modern telecom and Internet technologies, and on business and strategy issues. This gives Dr. Sharma an opportunity to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry, be updated on the most contemporary issues that practitioners worldwide are concerned about today, and perform industry service by leading discussions, solving problems, and responding to queries from networking professionals globally.

For a resume, please scroll to the bottom of our "About the Expert" page.

Client Comments ...

"Thank you Vishal ... these are good edits [to our interrogatories]." Principal at #1 PTAB and top national patent-litigation firm in the US (filed over 5,200 patents in 2015).

 "I can say that you have influenced the direction and strategy of [our] products, and our team thinks of your workshops very highly and looks forward to them." Co-Founder and CTO of a leading international Carrier Ethernet and optical systems vendor.

"We really had to develop a framework to figure out how to analyze the data and what it meant, and there was a lot of back and forth. So on the one side … there was two of us bringing in statistical expertise and there was another two [operators] who were bringing in the operational expertise. ... you were actually the person who was most providing [the systematic thinking]... How does this fit in? How does the science and the operations actually fit together, making a coherent and useful results set." President and Co-Founder of a leading network planning tool vendor (acquired for $140+M by a world-leading networking vendor).