Managing Partners and Associates

Ken Kalinoski

Founder of 100 Hill Rock Technology, Ken has been providing Technology Due Diligence, Strategic Development, Technology Transfer and Commercialization services to Government, University, and Enterprise business.  Ken often consults for Capital Investment Bankers and Hedge Fund Managers seeking to knowledge about the market, startup companies, and patents.  The company often works with private and public companies as well as universities looking for help in the commercialization of research and innovations.  Ken’s video experience dates back to the first Video on Demand trial with Hong Kong Telecom in the early 1990’s and broadcast analog to digital conversion in the 1990's.
 

Ken has held executive positions in R&D, Executive Management, Business Management and Development at a number of Fortune 500 and Startup companies.  Ken mostly served as VP of Hardware and Software Engineering at Polycom where he delivered the company’s first High-Definition Video Conferencing systems.


He was Startup Company Founder and Vice President of Hardware and Software Engineering for Netpliance.  A company IPO'd in 12 months and delivered 1st Mover Internet Appliance product and service offering in 9 months. The company was later acquired by 3Com. 
Ken’s Video Conferencing background includes CTO at VTEL/Forgent Networks where he led the $120M patent portfolio strategy and M&A and drove the strategy and direction to create the first heterogeneous Video Network Management Platform.  The business was later sold to Tandberg.


Ken had numerous assignments in his 18 year career at IBM including HQ assignments and delivery of IBM’s first High Availability Cluster Multi-Processor (HACMP) Fault Tolerant System, IBM’s Broadcast Media Streamer,  Digital Ad/Spot Insertion System, Video on Demand System, and VideoCharger the Streaming Audio and Video over the Internet system.


Ken holds a BS degree in Computer Science and a MS degree in Computer Engineering and was selected to attend the Duke University Fuqua School of Business Management for Executives.

Kurt Hoover

 Kurt has over 18 years of experience in business strategy, business development, and marketing for high technology organizations.  During his career he has led efforts in market research, product development, competitive intelligence, and business forecasting.  Kurt has former background in commercialization and continues to help government, universities, and corporate entities with commercialization and collaboration activities.

Most recently Kurt led an entrepreneurial team developing a highly acclaimed new video conferencing product line at Polycom.  He has held planning and marketing roles at AMD, IBM, LSI Logic, and Philips Semiconductors.  In addition to marketing and planning roles, Kurt has also implemented value-based pricing and re-engineered processes in five companies. 

He received his MBA and MS in Engineering from the University of Texas and his BS in Engineering from the University of Michigan.  While in graduate school he worked with both the University Of Texas LBJ School Of Public Affairs and the University of Texas IC2 Institute on Technology Commercialization and Economic Development.

Kirk Norsworthy

 

A veteran of nearly 30 years in technology, Kirk mostly recently served as VP of Engineering at Polycom where he worked with Ken in delivering the company’s first High-Definition Video Conferencing systems and was responsible for the Program Management, Product Test, Project Office and Customer Support.

 

Prior to Polycom, Kirk worked was an executive at startup ClearCube Technology, the industry leader in PC blade servers.  He managed the Architecture, R&D teams and the off-shore development.

 

Kirk worked with Ken at VTEL/Forgent Networks in delivering the leading Video Network Management platform.  The Alliance Suite was awarded the Lotus Advisor Magazine’s - Editor’s Silver Choice Award for Business Application and the prestigious award from Frost & Sullivan, The Market Engineering Award for Technology Innovation, recognizing the successful development and introduction of a new technology that makes a significant contribution to the engineering industry.

 

At Vignette, Kirk was responsible for all the development of Vignette’s flagship StoryServer Version 5 and the follow-on V/5 Platform – the leading content management software platform supporting customers such as Bank One/Chase, Barclays, CBS and other high volume websites.  He directed the Internationalization of the product, new User Interface and product integration and testing on both NT and Solaris server platforms.

 

Kirk spent 21 years at IBM, where he held numerous R&D, Product Planning and Project Office assignments in RS6000, PC and Power PC hardware and software.  He delivered AIX as the Program Manager and spent several years providing technical assessments and product reviews for IBM Corporate HQ.

 

Kirk holds a BS in Journalism and a MS in Computer Science and was selected by IBM to attend the McColmbs School of  Business at the University of Texas.

100 HillRock, LLC.                         Austin, Texas USA 78746 Phone: (001) 512-565-5791 ken@100HillRock.com