| Ronald V. Schmidt | |
| Birth Date: | 31 March 1944 |
| Death Place: | Portola Valley, California, U.S. |
| Known For: | LattisNet Ethernet over twisted pair |
| Occupation: | Electrical engineering |
| Alma Mater: | University of California, Berkeley |
Ronald V. Schmidt (March 31, 1944 – September 22, 2022) was an American computer network engineer.
Schmidt was born in San Francisco, California.[1] He graduated with B.S. (in 1966), M.S. (1968), and Ph.D. (1970) degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1970 to 1971 he was a postdoctoral research assistant at University College, London. He then joined Bell Laboratories in 1971.[2]
He was hired by Xerox PARC to develop a version of Ethernet for optical fiber in 1980 called Fibernet II.[3] Schmidt co-founded SynOptics Communications in 1985 with Andrew K. Ludwick.[4] After its merger in 1994, he served on the board of directors of the resulting company Bay Networks starting in May 1996.[5]
Schmidt was executive vice president and chief technical officer (CTO) of Bay Networks from 1994 to 1997.[6] In 1998 he became a vice president of the Bell Labs research facility at Silicon Valley.[7] He left Bell Labs in February 2000. He served on the board of directors of Silicon Image from April 1997 until April 2004.[8]
Schmidt cofounded the Flintridge & Portola Valley Railroad with Peter Mosley in 1991.[9]
Schmidt died on September 22, 2022, at his home in Portola Valley, California[10]