John Callahan, an engineer who played an integral role in pioneering Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC)'s Start Over service, is leaving ActiveVideo to join Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto: RCI), Light Reading Cable has learned.

Callahan will join Rogers in Toronto later this year to help the Canadian MSO advance its IP video migration strategy, multiple industry sources say. His title and start date were not immediately known.

At last check, Callahan was still listed on the vendor's management page. ActiveVideo declined to comment, and Rogers officials were not immediately available for comment.

Callahan will be joining Rogers, which also runs Canada's largest wireless operator, as it begins to make some sweeping upgrades. Last month, the company's cable division introduced NextBox 2.0, a cloud-based video platform powered by hybrid QAM/IP video gateways and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)'s multi-screen Videoscape architecture. Cisco, by the way, is licensing some of ActiveVideo's technology. (See Cisco & ActiveVideo Go Steady and Rogers Fires Up Cisco's Videoscape.)

In Callahan, Rogers will be getting a talented, Emmy award-winning engineer who has expertise on cable's traditional digital video platform as well as a solid track record with IP.

He was chief technology officer at ActiveVideo, a firm that uses the cloud to deliver interactive applications and services to digital set-tops, including older QAM-based boxes. ActiveVideo has been looking to extend its platform to IP-connected consumer electronics gear. (See 'Start Over' Pioneer Restarts at ActiveVideo, ActiveVideo Connects With HTML5 and ActiveVideo Gains a Retail Foothold .)

Before joining ActiveVideo in 2008, Callahan spent 15 years at TW Cable, where he last served as senior VP of software engineering for the Colorado-based Advanced Technology Group. TW Cable's Start Over service lets customers restart certain shows that are already in progress. Bright House Networks has also deployed it.

Callahan also contributed to the creation of TW Cable's Pegasus digital video architecture, was a principal developer of the MSO's MystroTV project, and helped build its first navigation system for tru2way devices.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable