Network as a Service Platform PacketFabric Hires Cisco Exec as CEO

Network-as-a-Service Platform PacketFabric Hires Cisco Exec as CEO

Written by Edward Gately
April 21, 2020

PacketFabric's new CEO drove innovation at Cisco and Juniper Networks.

PacketFabric, a network-as-a-service platform, has hired Dave Ward, previously Cisco’s CTO of engineering, as its new CEO.

Ward also was chief architect and senior vice president of Cisco’s networking and security business.

PacketFabric’s Dave Ward

“I could not be more excited to join PacketFabric at this critical juncture in the company’s trajectory,” Ward said. “During a career spanning over two decades in the telecommunications and networking sectors, I’ve been privileged to drive innovation for Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks. PacketFabric is fundamentally rethinking enterprise and service communications in a way that others have not. I’ve been very impressed with PacketFabric’s technology, go-to-market and business models, strong customer feedback and unique talent. I believe PacketFabric can lead and positively disrupt the next phase of transformation for the networking industry. I’m honored and excited to lead the company at this critical time in internet history.”

PacketFabric launched in 2017. The network-as-a-service provider most recently expanded its cloud connectivity service. It also secured a $75 million joint venture investment from Digital Alpha Advisors to advance the company’s network offering.

PacketFabric‘s hosted cloud connectivity product now offers capacity starting at 50Mbps and additional on-ramps to the leading public clouds, available from more than 160 on-net locations.

“Dave is an industry luminary and one of the very few ‘big internet’ architectural systems thinkers, and we are fortunate to attract him to PacketFabric,” said Rick Shrotri, Digital Alpha managing partner. “He brings unmatched networking and telecommunications expertise, business acumen and senior industry relationships. Under Dave’s guidance, I am even more excited about PacketFabric’s growth potential. We believe Dave is the right leader to transform the industry with PacketFabric.”

Ward and his engineering teams built numerous hardware and software products, such as networking orchestration and automation, and virtualized and cloud-native services. He also led architectural governance, technology strategy and development, and university research.

Ward joined Cisco in 1999 when the company acquired the Internet Engineering Group.