Lewis Donzis Wants to Make Enterprise-Grade Networking Simpler for Smart Homes

Starting his career at a company called Datapoint, Lewis Donzis likely didn’t realize how familiar his future might end up looking. After developing the first ever Local Area Network (LAN)–called ARCNET–with a team of equally talented programmers and engineers, Donzis got to experience quite a bit, moving from multiple leadership and consulting roles before finally settling down with his most tenured role to date: running PerfTech with many of the programmers and engineers that had once worked on ARCNET back in the day.

Now as President, CEO, and CTO of the company, Donzis oversees two core businesses: ISP services and routers, with the latter being perhaps the most pertinent to the CE Pro channel. Having watched the development of networking solutions over the years as well as the rise of smart systems in homes, Donzis saw a need to not only strengthen connectivity on home networks, but also make it easier for professionals to be able to set up these enterprise-grade networks in a home setting. From there, the concept of the Island router was born.

Recently, CE Pro interviewed Donzis to discuss more about the priorities or networking in a residential setting, what set sets the latest pro routers apart from the flagship, and why the company has chosen to focus exclusively on developing routers. Below is an amended transcript of the conversation.

CE Pro: How long has Island and PerfTech been manufacturing networking products?

Lewis Donzis: Core members of the Island team began working together in the 1970s at a company named Datapoint and were credited with inventing the first local area network, ARCNET — so a long time! The current team has been together since the early ’90s. We’ve continually created hardware and software products to resolve new issues of the day, including the first Internet-to-LAN gateway. 

From the beginning, we’ve been preoccupied with making things go faster, making networks more responsive to the data processing that we need and also making sure they are reliable and bug-free. We were deployed in banks, airlines, manufacturing plants, and later (and still) Internet carriers — all environments where any glitch in operation is just not tolerated. 

The one new element that we added for the smart-home market is making the product simple to manage — our Island routers exhibit enterprise-class performance, but we have raised the bar with our interface. That combination is unique to this space.  

CE Pro: Why does the company talk about features such as maximum packet rate per second and maximum connections per second when most mention network speeds and port capabilities?

Donzis: We have observed how the Internet has evolved. Where you used to download a relatively small amount of data from a server to obtain static information, using the Internet today is a much different experience. 

When you browse, for example, weather.com, there are hundreds of tiny transactions that have to occur from myriad servers just to present a page — maps, clocks, videos, graphs, ads — and they’re all being updated in near real time. Every packet, whether large or small, places similar overhead on the router, so thousands of small packet transactions create load that is best measured in terms of packets and connections. These types of tests best reflect the demands of the real-world applications we use today.  

CE Pro: Why did the company choose to focus exclusively on routers?

Donzis: We have extensive experience in all the mechanisms of routing, so we knew we could add significant value to the market in that specific technology. There are already a lot of Wi-Fi access point products out there, and most of them do a pretty decent job. Since the router is where the bulk of network intelligence lives, by focusing on routing, we can enhance Wi-Fi because all wireless devices still communicate through the router to the Internet. 

We realize that some customers like to purchase a same-brand integrated bundle, but for now, we are staying focused on the router, because that’s where we add the most value.

CE Pro: What does the new Pro Router model do that the original Island Router does not? 

Doznis: The Pro maintains all the stellar features of the original Island — same packet processing engine, security, filtering capabilities, VPN, and the same app interface that everyone loves. We definitely planned to offer a multigig version next and that gives the Pro even more extraordinary performance and capacity. But integrators also really wanted a rack-mount form factor, and we wanted to be responsive to that feedback.

CE Pro: How does Island support dealers?

Donzis: Our dealer support has been exemplary, starting with building strong relationships to seeding eval units to extensive training. It also includes on-line marketing/sales resources and U.S.-based, human support for both pre- and post-sales. 

Besides our direct support, our sales team has established relationships with excellent rep firms across the country that promote to and support their dealers in turn. I think you could ask any of our dealer network and their testimonials would back up our commitment to their support.