He held a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology[1] and was a Senior Member of the IEEE.
[1] Sannipoli served as the vice president and general manager of the Network Processor Group at IP Infusion Inc.
Sannipoli was instrumental in the creation of, and was the initial chairman of the Network Processing Forum (NPF), a position he held until his departure from IBM.
[2] The NPF is the standards body dedicated to creating a standards-oriented marketplace around the emerging technology of Network Processing.
[3] He was reelected to the NPF board of directors in June 2002[4] on behalf of IP Infusion and was elected to serve as chairman again in 2005.