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As director of strategic technology at ADC, Karl Rookstool ’73 devises “business plans that deliver real business solutions.” The company, which provides broadband network products and access systems, helps telecommunications carriers like Qwest and Verizon deliver voice, video, and Internet transmissions more effectively. Rookstool is responsible for positioning access and transmission products that ensure the efficiency and reliability of broadband services.
“The cable industry is now competing with telecommunications companies for business, so these companies must come up with new products that provide better solutions,” he says.
His work at ADC is helping such telecommunications companies vie for market supremacy. “Integrating technology with the market and being at the point where the two come together is fascinating,” says Rookstool. “It is a challenge to move forward with broadband in the face of the economic turndown the telecommunications industry is facing.”
His Lafayette education is helping him overcome this obstacle. “At Lafayette, I picked up a great analytical ability. I’m able to get to the heart of the issue and address it — I feel this is my greatest strength.”
A civil engineering graduate, Rookstool is a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and serves as executive adviser to International Engineering Consortium.