Ringside Networks

Ringside Networks provides the industry's first Social Application Server, allowing any website to harness the power of social networking. The free and open source platform is designed for companies to enable their global communities to interact and communicate like never before. Funded by Matrix Partners, the private company was founded in 2008 in Marlton, NJ by former executives and developers from Bluestone Software and JBoss.

Ringside Social Application Server is the first open source platform that enables website owners to build and deploy social applications that operate with existing website content and business applications while seamlessly integrating with social networks such as Facebook. Benefits of using Ringside Social Application Server include:

• Engage: Websites can move beyond simple personalization to social applications that accelerate meaningful user generated content - encouraging vibrant community dynamics.
• Viral: Website visitors participate in a network effect of interactions - resulting in relationships that are much more meaningful and long-lasting than search engine advertisements.
• Loyal: Customers transition from website visitors into active and ongoing contributors - improving both customer and brand loyalty.

Ringside Networks Team

Bob Bickel: Chief Executive Officer

Bob is one of the co-founders of Ringside Networks and sits on the Board. He helps with setting company strategy, sharing the vision of the future of social networking with others and getting market feedback to help set the proper direction for the company. He was an important part of the technology and business strategy and implementation at Bluestone Software and JBoss. Bob has helped advise a number of small technology companies and currently sits on the Boards of Hyperic and Metaverse. Bob also is a volunteer high school cross country and track coach at Moorestown High School, and co-owns the Moorestown Running Company, where you can see his running bio at the end of the page. Bob's blog can be found at: http://bobbickel.blogspot.com/

Rich Friedman: VP of Engineering

Rich is one of the co-founders of Ringside. In fact, the idea of Ringside was born during a lunch discussion between Bob and Rich at Passariello's in Moorestown, NJ. Rich was a key part of Bluestone, rising up thru the ranks of the Advanced Technology Group working with a number of high profile customers to the point that he was CTO for middleware at HP. He spent a couple of years at BankOne/Chase leading the development and deployment of the new credit card processing infrastructure that processes over 1,000 transactions per second. Rich joined JBoss to build and deliver the JBoss Operations Network - delivering a full solution within 6 months of joining JBoss. The JBoss Operations Network was the key to driving revenue in the Professional Open Source model. Rich stayed thru the Red Hat acquisition to help with integration of the management strategy at Red Hat and helped found the RHQ open source project.

Jason Kinner: Chief Technical Officer

Jason is one of the co-founders of Ringside. He comes to Ringside from Oracle, and before that HP Labs where he worked on Web 2.0 technologies like the semantic web. Jason also spent time working on advanced rich media applications as a consultant as well as with HP. Jason also worked at Bluestone, where he held a number of roles, including spending time with clients. His rich background and sharp mind are an important part of the future of Ringside Networks.

Mark Lugert: VP of Services

Mark is a co-founder of Ringside Networks. He worked with Rich Friedman on the JBoss Operations Network. He has a very diverse background including leading a collaboration project and government classified work for Trident, a leader in a huge derivatives trading program at UBS (not sub-prime!), and later at Red Hat was a chief architect responsible for over 40 business applications. Like the rest of the Ringside team, he has a nice blend between deep technical abilities with a drive toward understanding customers and what they need.

Rich Frisbie: VP of Operations

Rich is one of the co-founders of Ringside. He focuses on the business and operations needs of the company. Rich was an important part of the growth of Bluestone software, beginning as a developer and rising up to run the lab in Mt. Laurel, NJ of over 100 developers. He broadened his industry experience when he led the marketing group of the HP Middleware Division and later took on a financial leadership role at HP. Over the past several years, Rich reengaged his entrepreneurial spirits by turning around a transportation and logistics business. Like Bickel, a leave from the technology industry turned out to be temporary - especially when you have an opportunity to change the face of the web.

Shaun Connolly: VP of Product Management

Shaun Connolly is VP of Product Management for Ringside Networks and oversees the definition and promotion of the company's product offerings. Shaun was previously VP of Product Management responsible for the JBoss Enterprise Middleware line of products at Red Hat and JBoss. Prior to joining JBoss, Shaun served in Vice President and Director level Product Management and Product Development positions at Princeton Softech, HP Middleware, Bluestone Software, and Primavera Systems. Shaun holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University. He is a frequent blogger on the business of open source and the social web and has been a panelist and speaker at industry conferences. His blog can be found at: http://connollyshaun.blogspot.com