A computer
engineer graduate from Annamalai University, Periasamy hails from Tharamangalam,
a town in Salem district of Tamil Nadu. His father passed away when he was still
in school. Faced with financial constraints, his mother had to mortgage the
house to help him finish studies. Chellani, an electronics engineer, spent the
first two decades of his life in Mumbai where his family of four lived in a 600
sqft apartment. His father had migrated from Pakistan during the partition and
gone through a couple of unsuccessful businesses.A computer engineer graduate
from Annamalai University Periasamy hails from Tharamangalam a town in Salem
district of Tamil Nadu. His father passed away when he was still in school.
Faced with financial constraints his mother had to mortgage the house to help
him finish studies. Chellan an electronics engineer spent the first two decades
of his life in Mumbai where his family of four lived in a 600 sqft apartment.
His father had migrated from Pakistan during the partition and gone through a
couple of unsuccessful businesses.
Beginning his career as a software engineer for
Tata Unisys in India, Chellani worked for a while in Dubai to finance his way to
a Master Degree in the US. Chellani met Periasamy there, while working together
at California Digital and were part of the team that built the 'Thunder'
supercomputer for Lawrence Livermore National Lab. When 'Thunder' was put into
production in 2004, it was the second-fastest supercomputer in the world.