Long-time Verizon executive Stuart Elby has left the carrier to join Infinera, where he will head up the transport equipment vendor's new cloud network strategy and technology team. (See Infinera Appoints Elby As Cloud Guru.)

Elby, who was most recently vice-president and chief technologist of Verizon Labs, was often the public face of Verizon's exploratory efforts into new technologies and network architectures, including most recently its work in cloud platforms and virtualization.

He is also the second top Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) technologist to leave the carrier in recent months for the vendor world, following the move of Prodip Sen, Verizon's NFV guru, who now leads HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ)'s NFV efforts. (See HP Looks to Conquer Carriers With NFV.)

At Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN), Elby will head up a new group focused on the transport infrastructure requirements of data center operators, the network operators that connect them and the growing ecosystem of companies developing systems that enable cloud services. This segment has become a major focus for telecom service providers and prompted other moves within the vendor community, including a significant effort by Cisco. (See Cisco Aims for '#1' in Hybrid Cloud.)

Need to know more about network functions virtualization and the cloud? Then check out the agenda for NFV and the Data Center, September 16 at the Santa Clara Marriott, Calif.

The congenial Elby is very familiar with the packet-optical transport technology sector as he was known for his work on Verizon's metro and long-haul network architectures, particularly as they evolved to support cloud services. He was also a key figure in developing the Verizon Digital Media Services approach to distributing content.

Elby is also likely to be quite familiar with Infinera and its products. Before deciding on Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) for a major 100G transport deal, Verizon reportedly had Infinera on its shortlist. The newly minted Infinera exec also has spoken at Infinera events in the past. (See Analyst: Infinera Loses VZ Deal to AlcaLu and Finisar Intros 1x20 WSS.)

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading