OTTAWA, June 25, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Natural Convergence Inc. (NCI), a supplier of hosted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software, is pleased to announce that Patrick Smith has been appointed as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Natural Convergence and Bill Crank has been appointed as President and Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development.
The addition of these experienced business leaders underscores NCI's commitment to drive growth, build new partnerships and establish Natural Convergence as a leader in the hosted VoIP software market.
Patrick Smith has been the Chairman of Natural Convergence for 4 years and has provided strong leadership to the NCI Board and Senior Management team.
Patrick Smith noted, "I am pleased with the opportunity to become more deeply involved with NCI at this time. NCI's customers are today creating business offerings that return high margins and customer satisfaction leveraging NCI's significant and ongoing investment in building 'carrier class' products. I'm confident we now have the team to significantly expand our customer base."
With more than 24 years in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Smith provides a wealth of knowledge and experience. Previously, he has held senior management positions at Sprint US, providing the technology vision and leadership for Sprint's entry into the Managed Services business, now one of the major profit growth areas in the company. Prior to Sprint, Mr. Smith was Chief Technology Officer at Comdisco, and SHL, Systemhouse Inc.
Patrick Smith currently sits on the executive board as Executive Chairman Wavesat and Director for Gridpoint. He previously represented Sprint US on the Sprint Canada executive board for 4 years.
"I am pleased to have recently joined NCI," added Bill Crank. "NCI has built a 'carrier class' software application that is producing significant profitable revenue today for our customers. We have a tremendous opportunity to expand our customer base and partnership opportunities, while we also start to look at both adjacent markets and products to fuel growth."
Focused on driving growth and developing new partnerships, Bill Crank brings over 18 years of experience in the telecommunications industry to his role as President and Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development of Natural Convergence.
Prior to joining NCI, Mr. Crank held the position of Vice President of Sales at Ubiquity, providing the sales leadership and partner strategy to help the company to an IPO on the London AIM in May of 2005, and eventual acquisition by Avaya in February of 2007. Bill has also held several other senior management roles, including Vice President Sales at Jetstream, Executive Vice President CI Wireless Inc., President Wireless Systems Consulting Inc., and senior leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Ortel Coporation, Allen Telecom Group and Motorola. Bill specializes in Service Provider and Partner strategies in the Communications Industry with and emphasis on convergence and technology change.
About Natural Convergence
Natural Convergence supplies hosted VoIP software that enables service providers to sell dramatically improved services to the huge, yet untapped, small business market. Its silhouette application replaces traditional key systems, combining familiar functionality with powerful cost and performance advantages. Its go-to-market channel strategy is optimized to the buying habits of small businesses -- from value-added resellers, through service providers and original equipment manufacturers.
Founded in April 2001, NCI has grown with major service provider customers deploying their industry leading products to small business customers across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Caribbean.
Natural Convergence is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.
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