Ex-Cisco Exec Jonathan Rosenberg Lands At Contact Center Provider Five9

Cisco's vice president and collaboration business unit CTO has landed a job at cloud contact center provider Five9 after saying he would leave Cisco last September.

Jonathan Rosenberg in his new role joins Five9’s C-suite and will also lead the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) business unit, according to the San Ramon, Calif.-based provider.

The move reunites Rosenberg with his former boss, Rowan Trollope, who served as leader of Cisco's collaboration unit and Internet of Things (IoT) business for nearly six years. Trollope left Cisco in May to join Five9 as CEO.

[Related: Cisco Collaboration Leader Rowan Trollope Departs To Become CEO Of Five9]

Rosenburg, who has spent the last five years as one of the leaders of Cisco's collaboration business unit, is no tech newbie. The executive served as general manager of product and strategy for Microsoft, and chief technology strategist for Skype prior to Microsoft acquiring the company in 2011. Rosenberg is also well known for co-authoring the SIP protocol, the foundation for modern IP-based telecommunications.

Rosenberg in a blog post said he had "many options" for his next move after leaving Cisco. He wanted to stay in the enterprise collaboration industry and said his decision to join Five9 was a "carefully measured" choice. The contact center, he said, was the place to be because it is the ideal starting point for AI.

"I wanted to only work for companies that are 100 percent cloud based, with no legacy portfolio to contend with … I have also become completely convinced that AI is a critical part of the story for cloud collaboration. In this next generation of technology, the leaders will be those companies who are best able to analyze the content of the voice or video connection," Rosenberg said in his post.

Rosenberg will now be working alongside Five9's executive vice president of engineering, David Pickering, on the company's overall technology architecture and roadmap. Rosenberg will also have direct responsibility for overseeing Five9's AI team, including product management and software development.

“I worked closely with Jonathan at Cisco and saw firsthand his passion for cloud collaboration and its role within the enterprise,” Five9 CEO Rowan Trollope said in a statement. “As AI becomes a critical part of the cloud contact center platform, it’s vital that we center our technology focus around its advancement and Jonathan is the perfect hire to help us spearhead this next transition.”

Cisco, for its part, filled the role of CTO for its collaboration business unit in September with Cullen Jennings, a longtime Cisco fellow. In May, Cisco filled Trollope's former spot as senior vice president and general manager of applications and IoT with Amy Chang, a Cisco board member whose startup, Accompany, was acquired by Cisco in May 2018.