Updated: Ex-Moto CTO, Now CTO of Cisco Systems. Short Interview

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:49:09 -0800

Motorola Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior traded Chicago for the San Francisco Bay Area. She has joined Cisco Systems (CSCO) as chief technology officer, San Jose based company announced today. She didn’t waste much time and has started blogging on her new Cisco blog.

Okay it is full of PR sanitized corporate speak, but having read her writings in the past I think this should be a good one to watch. I think the world of her abilities and Cisco picked up a great executive to add to their team. This move also explains why Motorola took down her blog. I am going to chat with her later today and update the post.

“For next few weeks I want to listen to what everyone at Cisco has to tell me and learn,” said Padmasree Warrior, just an hour after it was announced that she was joining Cisco Systems as the Chief Technology Officer. I got a chance to speak with her as she rushed between meetings. She declined to comment on the specifics of her switch from Motorola to Cisco.

“I have admired Cisco because of their technology leadership and their business model innovations and innovations from a larger perspective,” she said. In her mind Cisco’s apporach to global opportunities along with macro-shifts in the over communications and computing industries make her job most exciting.

Though she spent recent years at a mobile-focussed company, Warrior said that her 23-years-in-technology have given her the grounding she needs to adjust to an all-IP future. “For the longest time, communication technologies have been vertical,” she said. Video meant cable, voice meant telephone, and data translated into Ethernet. “It is all horizontal - now network is the platform,” she said.

I asked her if we are in a brave new world of COMMputing, where the lines of computing and communications have blurred to such a degree that you can’t tell the difference. Google and Amazon Web Services are perfectly good examples of this commputing movement. She agreed and promised to share more of her thoughts at a later stage - after she has settled down in the Bay Area and spent time in Cisco trenches.

Originally posted at 1.41 pm

Weekend Reader: Microsoft, Vyke, Snocap & Innovation

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:04:17 -0700

Microsoft Launches Unified Communications Portfolio. Jeff Raikes, President of Microsoft’s Business Division tells CNET “The era of dialing blind, the era of playing phone tag, the era of voice-mail jam…that era is ending.” Good sound byte but far from truth. Aswath rightfully points out that problem is not that of technology but of social behavior. Anyway lets sit back and watch them duke it out with Cisco Systems.

Vyke, another VoIP Client for Nokia S60 phone. The options for making VoIP calls from Nokia S60 phones with WiFi keep on increasing. Vyke is the latest to join the party. I still like Truphone.

Why CD Baby popped a Snocap. Derek Sivers, CD Baby CEO outlines why his company cut the cord with Shawn Fanning’s start-up, Snocap. It seems like a case of too much expectations from a Silicon Valley company that seems to have drink too much of its own kool aid. Sivers didn’t say that, but should have.

Jim Robbins, former CEO of Cox passes away.

Life imitates art: The bizzare saga around the death of Seth Tobian, a hedge fund manager who often appeared on CNBC. He was found dead last month in his pool in Florida. It was then said, it was a heart attack. But now seems like foul play.

Who’s an innovator? Motorola CTO Padmasree Warrior (my interview) has some thoughts on innovators and innovation on her blog. My favorite bit about her post is this bit of sage advise: Know when and what to stop doing. This is probably the hardest thing to do…it is next to impossible to get people to think about what not to do.

warrior on SWiK

Updated: Ex-Moto CTO, Now CTO of Cisco Systems. Short Interview

Weekend Reader: Microsoft, Vyke, Snocap & Innovation