Tony Bates
Encyclopedia
Tony Bates is President of the Skype
Division at Microsoft
. He is responsible for overseeing the company’s direction, strategy and overall mission to become a global communications platform that will eventually reach billions of users.
Mr. Bates has over 20 years of leadership experience in the communications and Internet industries. An expert on Internet technologies, Mr. Bates has published 12 IETF RFCs in the areas of Internet Routing and Operations, and he holds nine patents in the area of Layer 2 and Layer 3 innovations.
.
On October 4, 2010, Bates was named Skype’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. In 2007, Bates had listed Skype as one of four companies that he hoped would offer him the position of CEO before he turned 45. During his tenure in this role, he oversaw the sale of Skype to Microsoft
for $8.5 billion.
Before joining Skype, Bates was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business Division, where he was responsible for its overall strategy and development direction. In this role, Mr. Bates was responsible for over $20 billion of annual revenue and managed over 12,500 employees worldwide.
In addition to running Cisco’s Enterprise Division, Bates also served as General Manager of Cisco’s Service Provider Group, responsible for annual revenue of $10 billion. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s high-end router business. During his tenure, he was responsible for the strategy and development of Cisco’s flagship CRS-1 router, GSR, and Multi-Service WAN (MGX) product lines.
Before working at Cisco
, Bates spearheaded the backbone-engineering strategy for Internet MCI (MCI’s national IP backbone).
Bates has also served on the boards of a range of technology companies including YouTube
, the video sharing website; TokBox
, a provider of online video conference services; BubbleMotion, a voice-based messaging and blogging service; and LoveFilm
, an online video streaming and rental service.
Bates is married with four children and in his spare time enjoys, skiing and tennis.
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
Division at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. He is responsible for overseeing the company’s direction, strategy and overall mission to become a global communications platform that will eventually reach billions of users.
Mr. Bates has over 20 years of leadership experience in the communications and Internet industries. An expert on Internet technologies, Mr. Bates has published 12 IETF RFCs in the areas of Internet Routing and Operations, and he holds nine patents in the area of Layer 2 and Layer 3 innovations.
Life and career
Bates was born in the U.K. He taught himself code by reading programming manuals on the way to work and began his career as a network operator at the University of LondonUniversity of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
.
On October 4, 2010, Bates was named Skype’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. In 2007, Bates had listed Skype as one of four companies that he hoped would offer him the position of CEO before he turned 45. During his tenure in this role, he oversaw the sale of Skype to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for $8.5 billion.
Before joining Skype, Bates was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business Division, where he was responsible for its overall strategy and development direction. In this role, Mr. Bates was responsible for over $20 billion of annual revenue and managed over 12,500 employees worldwide.
In addition to running Cisco’s Enterprise Division, Bates also served as General Manager of Cisco’s Service Provider Group, responsible for annual revenue of $10 billion. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s high-end router business. During his tenure, he was responsible for the strategy and development of Cisco’s flagship CRS-1 router, GSR, and Multi-Service WAN (MGX) product lines.
Before working at Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
, Bates spearheaded the backbone-engineering strategy for Internet MCI (MCI’s national IP backbone).
Bates has also served on the boards of a range of technology companies including YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, the video sharing website; TokBox
Tokbox
TokBox provides a free API that allows anyone to add group video chat features to their own websites. Experienced programmers use the OpenTok API to build custom interactive video chat applications...
, a provider of online video conference services; BubbleMotion, a voice-based messaging and blogging service; and LoveFilm
LoveFilm
LoveFilm is a UK-based provider of home video and video game rental through DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia...
, an online video streaming and rental service.
Bates is married with four children and in his spare time enjoys, skiing and tennis.