Cistera appoints acting CEO

IP phone application engine vendor Cistera has handed current president Derek Downs acting CEO duties following the departure of former boss Katrina Roche.

Downs has been with Cistera - whose Cisco-centric products operate in the enterprise VoIP environment - since January 2004. He previously held marketing and business development roles at software outfits i2 and Baan. 

US-based Cistera has recently extended its European presence through its partnership with Comstor. Cistera’s products sit in the distributor’s newly-launched OneVoice Programme – which provides support for VARs working in the IP telephony space.

And the alliance has already reaped rewards, with Cistera netting a lucrative contract with UK-based finance outfit Ruesch International in March 2006. Speaking after the win, CTO Gregory Royal commented: ‘Our Westcon Group UK relationship has allowed us to quickly enter the market and leverage Comstor’s infrastructure and language expertise.’ 

He added: ‘Through our relationship with Comstor, we have begun training Cisco resellers about Cistera’s value-add applications that are key differentiators in the very competitive VoIP market.’

Cistera has subsequently extended its partnership with Comstor to include the Americas.