Vishal Sikka Blog : vishalsikka.blogspot.com
Vishal Sikka Twitter ID : twitter.com/vsikka
Vishal Sikka Twitter ID : twitter.com/vsikka
Early life and career
Sikka grew up in Vadodara (formerly Baroda), India, the son of an officer in the Indian Railways. He graduated from Rosary High School. Vishal Sikka studied computer engineering at M S University, Baroda. After completing his M.S. in Computer Science atSyracuse University, Sikka was accepted for the doctoral program at Stanford University. His dissertation was titled Integrating Specialized Procedures into Proof Systems and his thesis advisor was Michael Genesereth. He graduated with his Ph.D. in 1996.
After a brief stint at Xerox's research labs, Sikka founded iBrain which competed at the time with Business Objects. iBrain was acquired by PatternRX, Inc. His second startup, Bodha.com, focused on developing technology for non-invasive, service-based integration of enterprise applications and information. Sikka joined Peregrine Systems as their area Vice-President for Platform Technologies, responsible for application development and integration technologies and architecture, following their acquisition of Bodha.com
| Born | 1 June 1967 Vadodara, India |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Stanford University (Ph.D.) Syracuse University |
| Employer | SAP AG |
| Salary | €4,018,702 |
| Title | Member of Executive Board, Technology and Innovation; Chief Technology Officer |
5 things to know about Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka
1. After completing his education, Sikka worked at Xerox's research Palo Alto Labs, but later ventured out on his own. He started his first company, iBrain, along with his brother, which was later acquired by PatternRX, Inc. His second startup Bodha.com was acquired by Peregrine Systems, where Sikka worked as Vice President for Platform Technologies, post the acquisition.
2. Sikka joined SAP in 2002 to head the advanced technology group responsible for strategic innovative projects. By 2007, he was named the first CTO of the company reporting directly to the CEO. He was responsible for all SAP products and innovation.
3. A car accident in Costa Rica in 2008, where Sikka was vacationing with family, was a turning point in Sikka's life as well as that of SAP. Though no one was seriously injured in the accident, Sikka wanted to move on in life rather than continue with his job. Over a dinner in the winter of 2008 in Aspen, Sikka tried to explain to SAP's founder Hasso Plattner that he wanted out of the company and work on newer technological areas which were affecting data computation speed. Plattner, in turn challenged Sikka to intellectually renew SAP and gave him a free hand in doing so. Thus, HANA (High Performance Analytic Appliance), one of the fasted selling SAP product, was born, which completely changed the fortunes of SAP.
4. Sikka's exit from SAP has shaken the company. A Business Insider article said that Sikka is a victim of power struggle in the company. SAP, a German company, was witnessing power struggle between the prominent members in Germany and those in the US. Sikka was seen as an American Executive in the company and Plattner's man in the company. European board members, customers and big investors were concerned about how SAP was increasing becoming an American company, especially since the current CEO is an American, Bill McDermott.
5. Sikka's exit process gathered speed after a German magazine DAS E-3 published a critical article about SAP's internal politics, the German-American power struggle and about how Sikka was directly in competition with the German head and a prospective future CEO. Sikka responded to the article in his personal blog and slammed the article and author, criticising the story as a fabrication of a gossip monger. The blog did not go well with the top brass in Germany and Sikka had to go.
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