Colubris Networks, a leading provider of intelligent wireless LAN (WLAN) solutions, today announced the appointment of three new members to its executive team as the company moves to expand into new enterprise vertical markets, while continuing to grow its share in the service provider market. The company recently named Robert Eisenberg its new president and chief executive officer, bringing to the company 25 years of strategic and tactical experience building high-growth technology companies and IT organizations.
“A successful entrepreneur and accomplished technology leader with proven operational expertise, Bob is the right leader for Colubris as it builds on its service provider success and moves to capture the enterprise market,” said William Seifert, chairman, Colubris Networks, and general partner, Prism Venture Partners. “His senior executive IT experience brings an intimate understanding of the challenges our customers’ IT organizations face.”
Eisenberg will focus initially on three key areas: expanding strategic partnerships; extending the company’s successful vertical marketing strategy; and increasing market awareness of the scalability and price/performance advantages of the company’s products. “When you look at the emerging demands on enterprise wireless LANs, Colubris’ technology clearly gives it market leadership potential,” said Eisenberg. “With the delivery of new enterprise product features, we must execute smartly and capitalize on the growth opportunities that lie ahead. Today’s appointments as well as upcoming staff additions are essential to this effort.”
As founder and chief executive officer of NaviSite, Eisenberg created a highly differentiated web hosting model by combining technology and applications management services with core web hosting. During his four-year tenure at NaviSite, the company rapidly grew revenues and completed a successful initial public offering. In 2000, Eisenberg was named an entrepreneur in residence at Alta Communications, a private equity firm focused on the media and telecommunications industries, where he evaluated new investment opportunities as well as assisted portfolio companies. Earlier in his career, Eisenberg held key IT executive positions within the retail, manufacturing and high technology industries, including market leaders Continental Cablevision (now Comcast) and Applicon, leading to his transition to entrepreneurial technology ventures.
Eisenberg succeeds Barry Fougere, who led Colubris from an early stage startup in 2002 to the number two position in market share within the service provider, hospitality and transportation segments of the WLAN market in 2005. Fougere also raised a total of $28 million in two successful rounds of funding.
Eisenberg Names Two New Members to the Executive Team
Colubris also announced today that Eisenberg has named Chris Koeneman as vice president of worldwide sales and service and has promoted Roger Sands to vice president of engineering.
Koeneman joins Colubris with over 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the enterprise and service provider markets including global sales responsibilities in publicly held companies as well as start-ups. Prior to joining Colubris, at both Avici Systems and Celox Networks, Koeneman served as the vice president of worldwide sales and service. He built the worldwide sales, field engineering and customer service teams at Celox, and significantly expanded Avici’s global presence into Asia and Europe. Earlier in his career, Koeneman held various positions at Cisco Systems including regional enterprise sales manager in North America as well as director of service provider sales in Europe. Koeneman also spent 11 years with AT&T in sales and marketing of data services to enterprise customers.
Prior to his promotion, Sands headed the Enterprise Product Development group at Colubris and was responsible for delivering the company’s award-winning InMotion multiservice controller product line. A 20 year plus veteran of the enterprise networking industry, Sands was a general manager of engineering and business development at Accton Technologies before joining Colubris in 2004. At Accton Sands helped establish the enterprise wireless LAN product group, which he led from initial product release through high-volume delivery. Prior to Accton, Sands was general manager of 3Com’s Business Access Solutions division. He has also held senior engineering positions at U.S. Robotics (acquired by 3Com) and Digital Equipment Corporation (acquired by Compaq/HP). Sands’ predecessor, John O’Hara, continues with the company as a consultant while he pursues a new entrepreneurial activity.
About Colubris Networks
Colubris Networks is a leading global provider of intelligent multiservice wireless LAN systems for service providers and enterprises. The company’s award-winning products deliver seamless, secure access to broadband services and applications, while unifying existing network infrastructures, security and management systems. Colubris Networks’ equipment is deployed by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide.
