Former Cisco Executive Joins Skype as CEO
If you had told The VAR Guy just two months ago that Skype would be one of the most interesting players in the enterprise unified communications space, we would have called you crazy. Rumors that Cisco Systems would buy Skype haven’t come true. But Skype has hired former Cisco Systems Senior VP Tony Bates as its new CEO. Here’s the story.
According to Skype’s press release, Bates’ over 20 years at Cisco were characterized by a string of upper executive-level positions, serving as General Manager of Cisco’s Enterprise, Commercial, and Small Business Division and spearheading their Borderless Networks, DataCenter and Collaboration initiatives before he was named senior vice president.
We’ve had our eye on Skype’s enterprise moves recently, especially after the launch of their partner program. The VAR Guy did go on record saying that a Skype-powered Cisco offering could help them win over the low-end video conferencing market. But instead, it looks like Skype is working hard at putting themselves into competition with Cisco.
We’re going to work on setting up a conversation with Bates to discuss Skype’s next enterprise and IT channel moves, so keep watching The VAR Guy.
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