CSCO Cisco Systems Inc

By Don Clark 

Cisco Systems Inc. has recruited a senior executive to oversee a major part of its product development, a move that follows a string of high-profile departures from the company's senior staff.

The San Jose, Calif., company is using an event Tuesday in San Francisco to announce Roland Acra will return in the role of senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's data center group, a division that includes a broad set of switching equipment as well as server systems. Mr. Acra had two prior stints at Cisco, the most recent ending in 2013.

Cisco, the No. 1 supplier of networking equipment by revenue, has faced challenges that include a preference among some web companies to avoid big-name hardware vendors. Some large data center operators are choosing instead to run networking software on inexpensive commodity-style switching systems from vendors such as Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc. Some customers also are choosing to shift computing jobs to external cloud services rather than buying and managing their own computers and networking devices.

Chief Executive Chuck Robbins, who recently finished his first year in the job, has responded with moves to accelerate Cisco's development of software and services. The company in August said it would cut 5,500 employees -- 7% of its workforce -- in part to make room to add workers with new skills.

Some prominent executives also have departed. The company disclosed last month that Zorawar Biri Singh, Cisco's chief technology officer, would leave as a result of a move to simplify and align engineering and development activities under two senior vice presidents, David Goeckeler and Rowan Trollope.

In June, Cisco said that a quartet of executives who had led development of some of the company's most successful products -- at startups Cisco funded and later acquired -- had departed following a corporate reorganization. And Pankaj Patel, an executive vice president who played a central role in technology development, announced plans to leave Cisco early this year.

The company described Mr. Acra as an expert in internet routing, communications protocols and software. He will lead an "integrated next generation data center team" that includes a series of switching systems, storage networks and servers, the company said.

"He understands the market dynamics, the massive opportunity we have from cloud disruption, what our customers need from our development strategies and how to build a software business," said Mr. Goeckeler, who manages all Cisco networking and security products, in a blog the company plans to post Tuesday. "Equally as important, he understands from hands-on experience how to operate a large engineering team at the scale of Cisco."

Mr. Acra's responsibilities don't include routers, another big Cisco product line, or the company's sales to telecom carriers or other service providers.

Mr. Acra held several positions at Cisco from 1991 to 2003. He rejoined Cisco for three years after its 2010 purchase of Arch Rock Corp., a startup he led that sold wireless technology for utility grid applications.

Mr. Acra previously served as chief executive of Procket Networks Inc. Cisco in 2004 purchased the assets of that company, which had raised $300 million to try to compete with Cisco in routing equipment.

Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2016 13:16 ET (17:16 GMT)

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