Sonus Appoints New Chief Technology Officer

By Johanne Torres

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

VoIP service provider Sonus Networks (News - Alert) has appointed Dr. Vikram Saksena to the post of chief technology officer (CTO). The executive previously served as Sonus’ chief scientist. As CTO, he will be responsible for the company’s overall technology direction.

 

“As part of the Sonus team, Vikram has played an active role in driving the future of Sonus’ technology innovation helping to advance our wireless and application initiatives. His technical background, experience, and passion for delivering value to customers will enable Sonus to extend its leadership as the market continues to develop for next-generation communications,” said Sonus’ chairman and CEO Hassan Ahmed in a statement released on Tuesday.

 

“The CTO role is a pivotal position at Sonus that requires an individual with superior intellect and business acumen to reinforce a culture that recognizes and rewards innovation and excellence. I am very pleased to welcome Vikram to this new position as I am confident he will enhance our management team and serve our customers and shareholders well,” he added.

 

As chief scientist for the company, Dr. Saksena was responsible for Sonus’ development of its wireless service technologies. The executive has over twenty years of experience in the telecom and cable market gained by having held senior technology positions. Prior to Sonus, he worked at AT&T (News - Alert) for 16 years where he developed data network services, software and network infrastructure for Frame Relay, ATM, and IP. At AT&T he held the title of fellow and chief technologist of the Data Networking Business Unit and was responsible for IP Quality of Service, Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), and VoIP technologies.

 

Following his AT&T stint, he worked at two start-up companies, MaxComm Technologies and Narad Networks where he focused on DSL and cable market technologies.

 

“Sonus has a proud history of being the industry’s technology leader and innovator. I am looking forward to taking on a senior leadership role in driving the technology direction for the company and creating solutions that will enable our customers to deliver sophisticated next-generation services worldwide,” said Dr. Saksena. “The industry is poised for a significant leap into converged multimedia services delivered over broadband and wireless networks. We have a number of innovations underway at Sonus that will drive this evolution and enable new value propositions for end-users of next- generation communications services.”

 

Sonus also announced on Tuesday that its founder Mike Hluchyj retired from the company.

 

“It has been an honor to play a role in the development of this dynamic company. With Sonus’ considerable technical assets, people and relationships in the industry, the company is one of the best positioned leaders in next-generation communications” said Hluchyj. “The transformation of the world’s communications networks to VoIP offers Sonus significant opportunities for continued strong growth. I have had the privilege of collaborating with Vikram during his time at Sonus and he is an accomplished technologist, business leader, and a strong voice in the market. It is clear that he will be an important member of the senior executive team, helping to drive the company forward.”

 

Sonus made news recently when it announced that its Voice over Broadband (VoBB) network infrastructure was chosen by eTel, an ISP and fixed telephony service provider in Central Europe as its foundation for its voice network.

 

The Sonus VoBB will be delivered through the company’s partner NK Networks & Services. eTel will integrate the Sonus-based platform to deliver a broad suite of consumer and business voice services. eTel agreed to deploy a complete suite of Sonus’ IMS-ready systems for the VoBB market, including both the GSX9000 and GSX4000 Open Services Switch, the PSX Call Routing Server, the ASX Access Server, and the Sonus Insight Management System for centralized OSS and billing support.