Meet Roger Meike, Newest Director at Sun Labs - California
	Roger Meike

Mar. 28, 2004 - Entrepreneur * Innovator * Photo enthusiast * Self-described techno-geek/nerd * Avid sailor * Ham radio operator * Ardent audio and music lover * Musician.

These are just some of the words that describe Roger Meike, who recently joined Sun Labs in Mountain View, California as a Director, reporting to Glenn Edens.

Meike has traveled a very interesting and winding road which led him to Sun Labs. He was born in Michigan, but grew up in Ohio, where, as a teen, he became the State Cycling Champion: he competed in both road and track races and placed as high as 22nd in the national championships.

"It all started when I was a kid..." Meike (pronounced "Mike") fell in love early on with the "whizzy things" computers do. While in high school, he took classes at a local university, including a computer graphics class based on a textbook by Robert Sproull, now Sun Vice President and Fellow, and former Director of Sun Labs in Burlington, Massachusetts. At that time, Meike created and taught the advanced computer class in his high school because the teachers "couldn't figure out what to do with the kids who completed the computer course and still wanted more." Meike taught his peers about data structures and parsers and had them build an ELIZA (Rogerian therapy from your computer) program from scratch.

Later, at the University of Rochester, (whose president happened to be Robert L. Sproull -- the father of "our" Robert F. Sproull -- Meike studied Cognitive Science, a combination of Computer Science, Psychology, and Philosophy.

Landing a real job. His first "real" job was with Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace where he applied artificial intelligence techniques to network management for the International Space Station. From there, he moved to Boulder, Colorado where he combined his passion for music and software development at WaveFrame. He designed and developed disk recording and DSP applications for music studios and film audio production. In addition to writing software, Meike worked on several of the production projects that used his software including several albums and placing the sound effects for the California Raisins' made-for-TV movie "Raisins Sold Out." In the evenings, he played keyboards in notable bands such as the Big Wigs and Dogma Hum, an improvisational jazz/rock band that would create music and lyrics "on the fly." Some of their live tracks can still be heard late at night on a radio station in Boulder.

From the Big Wigs to Stevie Wonder. In 1989, WaveFrame moved Meike and his wife, Monika to Los Angeles "to be closer to the customers." As a result, he was able to work directly with musicians such as Herbie Hancock and Peter Gabriel. "Once near the end of a session with Stevie Wonder," Meike recalled, "I commented on the sexy new Sony TCD-9 DAT recorder that Stevie's technical staff was unpacking. It was only available in Japan at the time. Wonder walked off and spoke to the technicians who immediately started repacking the tape recorder. I thought I must have said something wrong. But Stevie came back and we continued the session without further comment about the recorder. Finally at the end of the session, Stevie got the DAT recorder, handed it to me as a gift and said, `Thanks, Roger. Can I have your autograph?'"

When Monika, finished her Ph.D. and landed a job at Genentech, the couple moved to the Bay Area. "We had fun in LA," Meike admitted, "but Northern California is more our style." In the early 90's, Meike and a friend designed a video production card for the PC called "StudioMagic." They took their video card to COMDEX that year and were named Runners-up for the Best of Show award. "Not too bad for a couple of guys working out of their garage," says Meike.

An Interlude at Interval. Meike next landed a job at Interval Research, where he spent about six years working on new consumer electronic devices, technology for college graduates, audio communications, electronic communities, and news. At Interval, he worked with Glenn Edens -- current VP of Research and Director of Sun Microsystems Laboratories -- and headed up the software effort to create a new media-based consumer electronics operating system based on Smalltalk.

Based on that work at Interval, Meike and several of his colleagues spun off a start-up called Avio Digital -- building chips for a custom, media-based network and building an innovative audio and video system that delivered high quality sound for a reasonable price, until Centillium bought them out 1-1/2 years later.

"Captain Roger"

Bareboating in the British Virgin Islands. In between start-ups, music, and work, Meike and his wife Monika went bareboating on chartered 45' sailing yachts - and together, sometimes with friends, skippered to favorite locations, especially the Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands. Their last voyage took place less than four years ago, where just before a trip to the Indian Ocean, it was determined that they were expecting a baby in a matter of months. "The middle of the ocean is not the best place to be at a time like this." So their seafaring days were over, "at least until the kids are old enough to be useful as crew," says Meike.

Pixlabs -- A business of his own. Most recently (2002), Meike created a home business called Pixlabs, creating software for digital photography using Microsoft.NET and C#. He was motivated by the need to manage a collection of approximately +30,000 digital images that he generated during the first three years of serious digital photography. This "hobby" business allowed him to stay at home with his wife and two children while keeping his technical skills fresh.

If all of that weren't enough, Meike has also produced CD's for young bands and has been a ham radio operator for 10 years (although he has built many Heathkit kits and has been interested in radios since he was a kid.)

He now begins his newest adventure, directing a variety of Sun Labs' projects. His navigation experience should ensure smooth sailing as he enters uncharted waters.

Roger and son, Erik in 2003