Cisco exec pops up as a strategic advisor to SaaS start-up

Yesterday we noted that Chirag Mehta, an exec working at SAP blogged that he believed that Cisco's virtualization efforts could eventually lead it to becoming a software-as-a-service player - even buying up a couple of key SaaS players. So it was interesting when today we came across a press release with "Cisco" and "SaaS" in the text.

Start-up Zuora was formed by SaaS execs from Salesforce.com and WebEx to focus on the subscription billing industry. It says it aims to "do for the subscription industry what Amazon and PayPal have done for online retailing and payments," according to Zuora's press release. Michael Everett, Cisco VP of finance is one of a number of Silicon Valley execs to join Zuoras board of strategic advisors. Others include Elizabeth Tse, eBay VP, global billing, payments and collections, Dan Halabe, former partner at Accenture, and David Welsh, a partner at private equity firm Adams Street Partners.

OK, so it would be a bit far-fetched to suggeset that Cisco would be interested in buying Zuora. The bottom line is that Zuora will gain knowledge from Everett's financial experience, which includes a stint as CFO at WebEx, before it was acquired by Cisco. But we like the fact that this news popped up the day after we noted Mehta's interesting blog. 

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