Video Conferencing Vendor Vidyo Gets New CEO

Video conferencing vendor Vidyo has a new CEO, naming Eran Westman to replace founder Ofer Shapiro.

The company, which launched its first product in 2008, announced the executive change Feb. 4, just days after ending its fiscal 2014 on Jan. 31.

Westman joined Vidyo in February 2014 as chief revenue officer after several executive stints with Ceragon Networks. He will be Vidyo’s president and CEO. Shapiro, who founded the company in 2005—it initially was named Layered Media—will be Vidyo’s vice chairman and will continue to have an active role in the direction of the company.

“It’s been exhilarating to see the market acceptance of our disruptive technology and how it transforms the way people receive health care, collaborate and even spend their leisure time,” Shapiro said in a statement, adding that Westman is “the right person to lead the Vidyo team through this next phase of growth.”

In addition, Vidyo officials also said the company has hired Guy Resheff as its CTO. Resheff was co-founder, president and CTO of wireless chip maker Provigent—which was bought by Broadcom in 2011 for $340 million—and more recently was an executive in residence at Tailwood Venture Capital.

Vidyo is among a growing number of companies looking to leverage software and the cloud for video conferencing. The company creates software-based solutions designed to let business users and consumers participate in video communications from wherever they are and on whatever device—from room systems and PCs to tablets and smartphones—they want. The company’s VidyoRouter offering uses Scalable Video Coding (SVC) technology multi-participant calls without the need for expensive multipoint control units (MCUs).

The video conferencing market is a space undergoing transition, away from expensive room systems to software- and cloud-based offerings. Established players like Cisco Systems, Polycom and LifeSize Communications, which made a lot of money selling the room systems, are rapidly building out their software and cloud capabilities to meet the growing demand from a much more mobile workforce for video conferencing solutions that enable them to collaborate with colleagues, partners and customers wherever they are.

At the same time, smaller vendors like Vidyo, Zoom Video Communications and Blue Jeans Network are pushing their software- and cloud-only solutions as they look to grow their foothold in the market.