A press release that caught my eye -

Telecommunications Industry Veteran Drives Pandora Networks' Expansion

EMERYVILLE, CA – August 2, 2006 -- Pandora Networks, a provider of On Demand IP communication services for small to medium-sized business (SMB), announced Robert “Hal” Turner has joined Pandora Networks' leadership as Executive Chairman. He joins co-founders, Walter Snell, CEO and Sridhar Muppidi, CTO. Both co-founders have deep experience in IP convergence solutions before they founded Pandora Networks in 2001.

Turner brings extensive telecommunications-industry experience to the company and as Executive Chairman, will lead the company's aims and policies. Turner is also responsible for providing leadership to the company's management team to ensure effectiveness in setting and implementing corporate direction, product strategy and meeting fiscal goals.

Yankee Group anticipates the business VoIP market will reach $3.3 billion in service revenue by 2010. Businesses are migrating to VoIP because it provides cost savings, a converged platform for voice and data, and improves the manageability of communications.

“Hal is a seasoned veteran in global telecom with a proven track record in growing successful companies,” said Walter Snell, CEO of Pandora Networks. “We are poised for explosive growth as more and more resellers and service providers discover the benefits of reselling services to their SMB customers who demand affordable and easy-to-use IP communication systems. Hal's expertise and leadership will be invaluable to our team.”

A telecommunications industry veteran with almost three decades experience, Turner founded and oversees Turner Telecom Holdings, an executive management and board services consultancy, where he utilizes his international management experience to accelerate the growth of his clients, which have included global technology and telecom companies, startups, turnarounds, high-growth ventures and multinational corporations.

“Pandora's integrated voice, video, messaging and collaboration platform is unprecedented in the industry and delivers tremendous benefits to its users, unable to be serviced by monolithic providers,” said Turner. “I'm thrilled to be part of a company that makes unified communications a reality to the SMB customer and I look forward to the opportunity to guide the company toward this bright and promising future.”

Prior to joining Pandora Turner was Executive Chairman of LastMile Communications, a London-based provider of secure, edge of the network wireless content delivery solutions. There he was successful in setting the company's go-to-market strategy as well as secured series A and B financing rounds. Prior, Turner led the merger of IP Deliver with Proficient Networks to form InfiniRoute, the industry's first carrier-neutral, fully-managed service, managing VoIP routing for wireline, wireless and emerging carriers. There as chief Executive of the Board, he was instrumental in the firm's three rounds of raising capital.

Turner also served as Chairman and Group Chief Executive, of Davnet Limited, and has held executive positions with EON Corp, TeleZone Inc., PTT Telecom Netherlands, US, Inc., and BellSouth Communications, Inc., where he was President and Chief Operating Officer. Turner began his career at AT&T Corporation, where he held senior roles in sales and marketing.

Turner earned a BS and an MBA from University of South Carolina.

About Pandora Networks
Pandora Networks is the leading provider of On-Demand IP Communications for the small or mid-sized business. The company's solutions integrate voice and IP calling, switchboard and call-distribution services, instant messaging and conferencing, with options for advanced collaboration and call-center support. Service-based On-Demand delivery keeps capital investment low and aligns operating expense to business value. Pandora Networks sells its services exclusively through service providers, distributors and resellers under their private labels, the Company's Worksmart brand, or co-branded. The company's headquarters are in Emeryville, California. For more information visit www.pandoranetworks.com.

Since this press release came from a colleague I've got a really good working relationship with (Thanks Sheldon!), I'll coordinate with him to see about an interview with Hal Turner or someone from Pandora in the near future


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