Conquering the Impossible with Aspiration and Attitude

Cornami is an interesting company. Their leader is also an interesting person. I’ve interviewed Wally Rhines many times on various topics. All of them have been big hits. Cornami is focused on enabling fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) in a commercially viable and widespread manner. Many say this isn’t possible, but Wally and several other high-profile supporters of Cornami believe otherwise.  I covered some of the technical details behind Cornami here. This discussion isn’t about what Cornami is doing. Rather it’s about the people and the process that facilitate conquering the impossible.

Cornami recently released a white paper on the backstory of how Cornami is doing what most say can’t be done. It’s written by a good friend and long-time collaborator, Mike Gianfagna. Mike digs in to understand why some very prominent folks got behind Cornami and its mission. These are folks who judge the efficacy of business plans and technical ideas for a living. Mike explores why these folks bought in to the vision. Mike has seen his share of business plans in his career as well, absolutely, so I wanted to understand what he discovered. The story takes a few unexpected turns and delivers a few surprises along the way.

If you are interested in the benefits of FHE, or if you just wonder what it takes to do the impossible, you’ll want to read this white paper. Here is a summary of some of the twists and turns in the story and the key stars of the show. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the story. My aim is to shine a light on the how unpredictable life can be when you aim to do the impossible.

Why Should I Care?

About FHE that is. The answer has to do with data security. Most will understand the importance of protecting data. Compromises can cause all sorts of havoc. The actual value of data is growing exponentially and so protecting that value is another aspect of the problem. One of the stars of this story coined the term, “data is the new oil”. There’s a lot that goes with that. You can dig into more details about data security. Just remember FHE is the most bullet-proof way to protect data. Even quantum computing can’t break it.

An Evolving Collaboration

Gordie Campbell founded Cornami years before Wally joined as CEO. Gordie’s story could occupy a white paper all by itself. Gordie founded and became chairman and CEO of CHIPS and Technologies, the world’s first fabless semiconductor company. That innovation drew the famous comment from Jerry Sanders of AMD, telling Gordie publicly that “real men have fabs”. The rest, as they say, is history.

Years later, Gordie and Wally’s paths would cross. The reason had to do with software discounts. You’ll need to read the white paper to learn more. After Wally left Mentor/Siemens, he was doing some work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The agency had a particular interest in, you guessed it, FHE. The Department of Defense (DoD) was convinced this was a critical technology for the future. After a lot of research, Wally concluded that no one was working on FHE. It would be at least ten years before anything remotely resembling a solution could be in hand.

How did Wally go from “no way” to CEO of Cornami? There are other star performers involved. You’ll have to read the white paper.

Smart Money

My overview will end with Eric Chen of Softbank. Eric led the most recent funding round for Cornami. Eric has a background in physics and a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He is first and foremost a technologist. He has fueled that passion as both an entrepreneur and an investor. Way before meeting with Gordie and Wally to discuss Cornami’s funding round, Eric had done substantial research on data, its impact on the economy and how to protect it. He knew a lot about, you guessed it, FHE. Why did he invest?  You’ll have to read the white paper to find out.

To Learn More

There’s a quick synopsis of a rather engaging white paper on what’s involved in conquering the impossible. I highly recommend it. You can get your copy here.

Also read:

CEO Interview: Wally Rhines of Cornami

I Have Seen the Future – Cornami’s TruStream Computational Fabric Changes Computing

Podcast EP65: Trust But Verify – The Backstory of Applied Materials and Cornami with Wally Rhines