At Silicon Labs, Wireless IoT is Only The First Step in Rethinking Product Design

Daniel Cooley started his career in RF chip design at Silicon Labs and now leads technology and product development at “the number one wireless supplier” for the Internet of Things. In this thoughtful interview, Cooley explains why adding wireless connectivity is only the first step to completely rethinking product designs and features. He noted that “the home run cases aren't where wireless is the feature; it's where wireless made that product better.”

Wireless SoCs from Silicon Labs power applications like Amazon Sidewalk. Image used courtesy of Silicon Labs

Cooley explains that Silicon Labs’ primary goal is to help companies get started with their preferred wireless protocol quickly and efficiently so they can focus on their applications instead of trying to debug the wireless links. Silicon Labs’ experience was forged on having “cut our teeth selling more than a billion wireless chips over many, many years.”

Our Moore’s Lobby host, Daniel Bogdanoff, chats with Cooley about a range of fascinating topics that include:

• Building wireless products for “metal benders.” 
• The surprising economic benefits of adding wireless connectivity to shelf labels.
• An explanation of the Matter protocol and why it is important.
• The Silicon Labs partnership with Arduino.
• Why the sky is falling…or at least the cloud is coming down.
• Reflection on a major project and when Cooley “realized none of it was going to work.”
• Why Cooley believes we will see a rethinking of the Internet infrastructure around non-human electronic devices.

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Meet Daniel Cooley

Daniel Cooley serves as the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Technology and Product Development at Silicon Labs. He is responsible for the company’s overall research and development strategy and execution. Cooley is a respected IoT industry veteran who has been instrumental in building the unmatched breadth and depth of the company’s wireless connectivity portfolio. 

Previously, Daniel served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, leading Silicon Labs’ overall strategy, corporate development, M&A, emerging markets, and security. Before that, Daniel led Silicon Labs’ IoT business as Senior Vice President and General Manager. Since 2005, Cooley has served in various engineering and business leadership positions at Silicon Labs in the US, Asia, and Europe.

Daniel has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He holds four patents in radio and low-power technology. Daniel currently serves on the board of directors for the Thinkery, Texas 4000, and the Austin Symphony Orchestra.