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Turning Your Dream into Reality
Zoya Anna Thomas
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
"Energy, ambition, and desire; if you have these qualities, you can turn your dream into reality," says Sanchaita Datta, Chief Technology Officer, VP of Engineering and Co-founder, FatPipe Networks who believes in taking risks and having fun. Unsurprisingly she, along with her husband, is the inventor of the router clustering technology and the holder of seven patents that cover the core functionality of FatPipe’s technology.

Long ago, when Sanchaita was on a vacation with her husband Ragula Bhaskar, CEO and Co-founder, FatPipe, she had a discussion with him about the Internet boom. They realized that since everyone was putting their information on the Internet, the need of the hour was a reliable and speedy access to online information. The idea was converted into a product, and FatPipe was born.

It was while working with Megahertz, which was acquired by 3Com, that the entrepreneurial drive in her kicked off. She was appointed as the project leader of the remote access server group, where eventually she led the development of a complex remote access server. The founders of Megahertz were young entrepreneurs who gave Sanchaita enough opportunity to develop leadership skills, inspired her to believe in herself, and gave her the confidence to aim higher. The yearning to be an entrepreneur and the excitement of venturing into an uncharted terrain pushed Sanchaita to take the risk. The go-getter that she is, she quit her job to achieve the goal, despite not having a backup plan ready.

There were people who voiced their apprehensions at the decision. But, of course, lessons were learnt too. “When you start a company, you realize that you are no longer just an engineer. You are suddenly responsible for the people who are working for you, you have to talk to customers, and also deal with VCs. In other words, you have to wear multiple hats,” says Sanchaita. Thanks to her efforts in creating and developing the router-clustering concept, FatPipe has received several accolades in the IT industry and from the business community. Today, its line of products cover an array of features and benefits for companies that run mission critical Internet and WAN applications over any type of network infrastructure.

But, the journey does not end here. Developing new technology and evolving the products to add functionalities or features that the customers want are what motivate the technologist and engineer in Sanchaita. To see the company grow and watch your team enjoy the results is a reward in itself. However, it is equally important to keep motivating the workforce that drives your company, and that is when your skills as a leader are put to test.

According to Sanchaita a leader should know the different types of employees they are dealing with, keep them motivated by providing a constantly challenging environment, be flexible, and most importantly be accessible. As Sanchaita puts it, “You need to have a managing style to succeed as a leader. I do my best to channelize the goals and desires of my employees, so that they as well as the company benefit.” When one of her team leads wanted to shift to India from FatPipe’s office located in Salt Lake City, Utah for six months, Sanchaita encouraged him to do so. Not only was the employee happy to be part of a new culture, but he helped in training and setting up a cohesive and productive team in India.

But it is the number of awards that Sanchaita has won that speaks volumes about her success. Among them she was awarded the Woman Innovator Award by the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for her accomplishments in the field of communications technology. More importantly, Sanchaita is the 2009 award recipient of the YWCA Outstanding Achievement in the category of Business and Industry. True to her nature, she believes that one should not take adversities as a road block; instead, as she advises the future women IT professionals, one should always look for a way forward ? “Work hard, look ahead, and don’t be nervous to take a risk.”



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