Robert D. (Bob) Saunders

Bob Saunders is president and co-founder of Skitter, Inc. Skitter.TV is the company’s Internet TV platform, a unified environment for capturing, configuring and delivering merged TV and Web video to TV’s, computers and mobile devices. Saunders has more than 30 years of experience in computing, Internet, telecommunications and multimedia technology. His accomplishments include providing the vision, business development and architectural design for a number of pioneering technologies and successful businesses.

Saunders was involved in creating one of the world’s first photo and graphics search technologies; a widely deployed, Unix-based telecommunications platform; and an early TCP/IP platform. He founded one of the nation’s first Internet Service Providers and later one of the first virtual ISP providers serving the telecommunications industry. Over the last decade, he has architected over five different set-top box systems and three generations of video encoding technology.

In 1991, Saunders founded America.Net, one of the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country. In partnership with UUNet, America.Net became the first-ever virtual ISP, installing and running outsourced Internet services for more than 600 tier-two and tier-three telco’s and cable companies across the U.S. Saunders then founded Infinite Video in 2003, where he architected set-top box and video encoding technologies. Prior to founding America.Net, Saunders was with Intergraph, where he developed large Unix systems for graphics applications and computer-aided design (CAD). While at Intergraph, he worked with the Atlanta Olympic Committee, Georgia Tech, Heery International and Rosser Fabrap International to create a 3D mapping and architectural rendering presentation that is often credited with Atlanta’s successful bid for the 1996 Olympics.

In 1978, Saunders founded 20/20 Computer, a Pennsylvania-based computer reseller that was one of the world’s first Unix systems houses. 20/20 Computer installed the Unix systems at all Western Electric locations, the AT&T technology group later known as Lucent Technology and now Avaya. Saunders was the chief architect of a project to port IBM STAIRS, a Bibliographic Retrieval Services System, to the Unix platform. The system was installed in the Library of Congress, providing one of the first full-text search systems used in the library’s prints and photos collection. When Saunders sold 20/20 Computer in 1986, it was the world’s largest Unix systems house.