Gerald Combs

Gerald Combs, a computer science graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is the creator and lead developer of Ethereal, now Wireshark, which was first released in 1998. Combs worked for Network Integration Services (NIS) until mid 2006 when he moved to a new job at CACE Technologies. In June 2006, he created Wireshark from the Ethereal codebase. The driving factor in his creating this new project was the inability to come to an agreement with his former employer (which held the Ethereal trademark) to allow him to keep using the trademark. Combs has stated on the Wireshark homepage that he is going to register Wireshark under his own name to prevent this situation from happening again. Combs has also stated "There was no "fight" between NIS and I. Although I'm deeply disappointed about the trademarks, I understand their decision. NIS is a great company and I still hold everyone there in high regard."

He received University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Computing & Engineering's Alumni Achievement Award in 2003 [http://www.ecn.umkc.edu/alumni/alumni_aaa.htm] .