Skype has hired well-known VoIP expert Jonathan Rosenberg as its chief technology strategist, the company announced today. Rosenberg was highlighted as one of the Cisco (s csco) executives Index Ventures’ Michael Volpi would bring over to Skype in order to help the company figure out a way around the JoltId stranglehold. As you might know, Skype and Joltid, the company that owns the technology used by Skype (and controlled by founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis), settled with the company last week.
Rosenberg is well-regarded in SIP circles and his hiring means that Skype is making a stronger push into the enterprise. Rosenberg was a Cisco Fellow at Cisco Systems, where he directed technology strategy for its enterprise voice product portfolio. When I last spoke to Skype CEO Josh Silverman, he was pretty clear about his desire to turn Skype into a major enterprise voice and collaboration player. Rosenberg’s hiring is a smart step by Skype. (Related post: How Skype Plans to Dominate Business Telephony.)
Not Skype but Google bought Gizmo5, says TechCrunch.
I know. sorry… it was a wrong edit/version which went up. I posted the correct one earlier today.
now *that* is a killer hire and the kind of brain that smart money will be betting on…
I wonder if hiring Rosenberg was part of the backup plan if the legal problems with Joltid were not resolved. Is the father of SIP’s new job at risk, or is Skype still potentially moving towards SIP?