* Cisco shuffles execs
Cisco last week promoted Charles Giancarlo to chief development officer, a year after he was named CTO and president of Cisco’s Linksys division.
He replaces Mario Mazzola, who is retiring as Cisco’s head of engineering. Mazzola, 58, had been with Cisco for 12 years. Giancarlo will remain as the head of Linksys.
In a statement, Cisco CEO John Chambers said Mazzola’s role as head of engineering “contributed significantly during a pivotal time in Cisco’s history, solidifying our reputation for innovation and risk taking… I have tremendous confidence in [Giancarlo’s] ability to build upon this foundation.”
Giancarlo will handle R&D efforts behind all of Cisco’s product lines – from enterprise and carrier routing and switching, to voice, security and home network gear – and an R&D operation larger than many of the company’s rivals’ annual revenue. (Cisco spent $3 billion on product development in its 2004 fiscal year.) Cisco will look to fill the role of CTO – which focuses on the promotion of Cisco technology – over the next several months.
Other changes include the creation of the Data Center, Switching and Security Technology Group, which will be headed by Senior Vice President Jayshree Ullal. Formerly in charge of Cisco’s security business, Ullal takes over the storage and switching responsibilities from Senior Vice President Luca Cafiero, who is retiring.
Mike Volpi, senior vice president of Cisco’s Routing Technology Group, will add optical and service provider voice technology to his responsibilities, as well as the company’s overall service provider strategy.
