Looking to gain a competitive edge on a struggling rival, RGB Networks has recruited Scott Pranger, previously head of channel partnerships at video-encoding vendor Envivio, as vice president of global channels.
Meanwhile, Envivio -- which has slashed revenue expectations twice since its initial public offering earlier this year -- on Tuesday announced the departure of chief operating officer Kevin O'Keefe and the appointment of David Baranski, a former Terayon Communications and IneoQuest Technologies executive, as vice president of sales for the Americas region.
RGB CEO Jef Graham said that Envivio historically has done “quite well” in establishing channel partners under Pranger (pictured above), who started at RGB on Dec. 3.
“At a time when they’re struggling, we had an opportunity to bring Scott on board,” Graham said.
In the U.S., Envivio’s customers include Time Warner Cable. Privately held RGB customers include Comcast -- whose venture capital arm is an investor -- Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Rogers Communications.
Typically, large North American cable operators and telecom carriers tend to buy direct from technology vendors whereas other providers prefer to buy solutions through systems integrators, Graham noted. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based RGB has a few channel partner relationships in place, including with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Huawei Technologies but “they are not as active as I’d like,” he said.
Pranger, who will remain based in Atlanta, is charged with growing sales of RGB’s IP video-encoding solutions by strengthening the company’s relationships with large resellers and systems integrators.
“Having sold against RGB’s multiscreen offering, I have admired the scalability and flexibility of their solutions, as well as the breadth of their product line,” Pranger said in a statement. “With the best IP video solutions in the market on my side, capable of delivering the next generation of multiscreen services, I’m eager to get started building a strong channel sales program that will help RGB capture even more of the TV Everywhere market.”
Envivio warned it would miss sales targets for the three months ended July 31, then again lowered revenue expectations for the quarter ended Oct. 31. On Tuesday, the company reported revenue of $7.2 million for the most recent quarter, down 47% from $13.7 million in year-earlier period, and a net loss of $5.6 million (21 cents per share) versus net income of $484,000 in its third quarter of fiscal 2012.
According to Graham, RGB will generate between $15 million and $16 million in revenue for the fourth quarter 2012. For the full-year 2012 the 170-employee company expects revenue of about $60 million, he said.
Envivio said that under Baranski it is expanding its sales presence in North and Latin America, including adding new account executives focused on the North American cable market. In addition, it announced the hiring of Shengli Han as vice president of sales for Asia Pacific; he previously was a sales and management executive at Thomson Broadcast Systems and Grass Valley.
"David and Shengli bring tremendous assets to our sales organization including their extensive knowledge of the industry and significant experience working with many of our key customers," Envivio president and CEO Julien Signes said in a statement.
Also Tuesday, Envivio disclosed that COO O’Keefe will leave the company effective Dec. 31. Under the terms of his separation agreement, O'Keefe will receive his monthly base salary of $17,118 for six months and other benefits.
