Kent Orthner

Kent Orthner has a diverse work experience in the semiconductor industry. Kent started their career at Fitel Photomatrix/JDS Fitel/JDS Uniphase in 1997, where they designed hardware, FPGAs, and embedded software for Optical Networking equipment. Kent also served as a project manager and designer for various projects. In 1998, they joined JDSU as an engineer.

In 1999, Orthner moved to Furukawa and worked as a design engineer. Kent was responsible for specifying and implementing various projects related to network technology. Kent led the design of an OC-12 Line Interface card for a chassis-based router.

From 2001 to 2003, Orthner worked at Accelight as an Engineer and Customer Specialist. Kent authored FPGA device specifications, including the flow of data through AcceLight's GMPLS switch and OC-12 to OC-192 overhead processor FPGAs.

Orthner joined Altera in 2003 and held multiple roles during their tenure. Kent started as an Applications Engineer, providing worldwide support for Altera's POS-PHY 4 IP core. Kent then became a Manager and Architect, where they developed and productized the Qsys NOC interconnect. Finally, they became a Senior Manager, leading 5 teams across 3 continents and overseeing the System Design and IP Infrastructure.

In 2014, Orthner joined Arteris as a Director of Development/VP Engineering/Director of Software. Kent'sresponsibilities included managing the software and hardware organizations, growing the teams, and ensuring high-quality and timely implementation of products, with a focus on highly configurable cache-coherent interconnect IP.

Currently, Orthner works at Achronix Semiconductor Corporation. Kent started as a Systems Architect in 2016, then became the Senior Director of Systems in 2018. As of April 2021, they hold the position of Vice President of Architecture.

Kent Orthner completed their Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc) in Computer Engineering at the University of Ottawa from 1994 to 1997. Following that, they pursued their Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Electrical Engineering at Carleton University from 2004 to 2009.