NetImmune Wins Entrepreneurship Award

NetImmune, Inc., a start-up company developed by Professor Mark Shayman (ECE/ISR), Mehdi Kalantari Khandani, a 2005 Ph.D. graduate and current ECE assistant research scientist; and Mehdi Alasti, a 2001 ECE Ph.D. graduate, was presented with the Award for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Invention of the Year awards. The entrepreneurship award is sponsored by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).

NetImmune, located in Germantown, Md., develops products to protect internet networks by mimicking human immune system responses. Dr. Shayman is developing a high-speed prototype platform in a real network environment to detect and prevent Distributed Denial of Service and intrusion attacks. NetImmune's solution can identify a network attack within seconds to a few minutes; current systems can take more than a half hour. By detecting network attacks at early stages, NetImmune's technology can prevent substantial damage from occurring.

NetImmune is a past winner of the UM $50K Business Plan Competition (2004) and a MIPS funding recipient (2005).

The University of Maryland Invention of the Year awards are given annually by the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). OTC was established in 1986 to facilitate the transfer of information, life and physical science inventions developed at the university to business and industry. In the past 19 years, OTC has recorded more than 1,500 technologies, secured more than 225 patents and licensed nearly 750 technologies, generating more than $22.6 million in technology transfer income. In addition, more than 40 high-tech start-up companies have been formed based on technologies developed at the university.

Published April 11, 2006