Plantronics Nabs Cisco, Polycom UC Veteran For CTO Post

Burton, well known in the unified communications (UC) and video markets, was most recently executive vice president and CTO at Polycom -- a role he was named to only about eight months ago. Prior to Polycom, Burton spent 10 years at Cisco, and his last job there was as CTO for unified communications.

At Plantronics, Burton reports to Ken Kannappan, president and CEO, and will be responsible for setting and driving Plantronics' technology direction, as well as the headset vendor's global engineering teams and programs.

In a statement, Kannappan praised Burton's track record of technology and UC expertise.

"He will play an invaluable role in helping us continue to expand our leadership in unified communications and voice technology," Kannappan said.

Plantronics recently expanded its Savi, Blackwire and CS headset system portfolios, as well as updated its UC Toolkit for helping organizations map out UC products and systems in the enterprise. According to its channel managers, the company now has about 2,500 authorized partners and is continuing to update its channel program to more strategically align with UC solution providers.