(13 May 2006 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The California-based IPTV firm Kasenna has appointed Kumar Shah as CEO. Shah succeeds Mark Gray, who will continue to serve on the Kasenna Board as its Chairman and also continue to drive strategic partnerships across the globe.

Kasenna provides video-on-demand (VOD) content and MPEG-4 ready IPTV applications for Triple Play services over broadband networks.

"With our rock-solid and battle-tested VOD Server, innovative LivingRoom Middleware Platform, and industry leading ViewNow Content Aggregation and Management business, Kasenna has clearly established a demonstrable technology and product leadership in the IPTV market," said Kumar. "I am excited about joining Kasenna at this crucial inflection point for Kasenna and for the IPTV market. I am looking forward to leveraging our product and technology leadership into a global leadership position in the IPTV market."

An industry veteran with more than 20 years of business, marketing, and sales management experience, Shah was recruited by the Kasenna board members from US Venture Partners, where he was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR).

Prior to that, Shah was involved with a number of venture capital funded start-up companies, most recently as President & CEO of Occam Networks (OTC: OCNW) and prior to that as Chief Marketing Officer of AccessLan Communications, which was acquired by Advanced Fibre Communications, which in turn was acquired recently by Tellabs.