Career
After Stanford, she worked at a startup semiconductor company called Zilog Corporation that had separated from Intel, where she contributed to the design of the Z8 and Z8000 microprocessors.[12] She led the team that developed one of the first commercial local area network systems[13] called Z-net.[14]
At Zilog, Estrin decided to create a company focused on networks, which were experiencing a boom at that time. She wanted to work in a marketing role, where she could explain what networks did and how they worked.[15] In 1981, Estrin co-founded Bridge Communications with her husband, whom she later divorced.[16] Bridge Communications manufactured network routers, bridges, and communications servers. Bridge became a publicly traded company in 1985, and merged with 3Com in 1987. While her husband focused on administration, Estrin ran the technology and engineering side, and became director of marketing and sales. After the merger with 3Com, Estrin and her husband had problems co-managing, and left the company nine months later.[15] In 1988, they offered to join the founding team of Network Computing Devices (NCD) as executive vice president, later becoming president and CEO in 1993.[17]
In 1995, six months after leaving NCD, Estrin co-founded Precept Software, Inc., which developed networking software. She served as its president and CEO until its acquisition by Cisco Systems in 1998,[18] when she became its chief technology officer and senior vice president of Cisco Systems until 2000.[19]
Estrin was listed as one of the "50 most powerful businesswomen in the United States" by Fortune in 1998.[20]
In 2000, Estrin co-founded Packet Design, LLC, a networking technology company, with her husband William N. Carrico, Jr., with $24 million in funding from the venture firm Foundation Capital and private investors, including Estrin, Carrico, James Barksdale, Bill Joy, and Frank Quattrone.[21] Packet Design later spun out three venture-backed startups, including Packet Design, Inc.[22] At Packet Design, she worked on advanced network technology. During this time, she divorced her husband.[23] She served as CEO of Packet Design, LLC, until it was dissolved, distributing its assets to investors in late 2007. After Packet Design, she created JLABS, LLC, which she considered a way to pursue her interests in innovation and leadership.[24] She became the CEO of Evntlive, a tech company founded by her son David Carrico, in 2013.[25]
In 2025, Estrin was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.[26]
Author
Estrin is the author of Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy (McGraw-Hill; Hardcover, September 2008), which challenges national, academic and business leaders to work together to make the United States competitive again.[27][28]
Board positions
Estrin served on the boards of FedEx Corporation (1989-2010),[3] Rockwell Automation (1994-1998), Sun Microsystems (1995-2003),[29] as well as the Walt Disney Company, where she served for fifteen years (1998-2014).
