Juniper wouldn't comment, citing a policy to keep mum on rumors. Huawei did confirm that Bross has moved on, however.
His departure makes sense. Part of Bross's mission as Huawei's North American CTO was to help the company make inroads with North American carriers. He even got profiled in Business Week for it. But -- a Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) deal notwithstanding -- Huawei's chances in the United States are pretty much nil. The government has declared Huawei's equipment a security risk, making it highly unlikely that either AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) or Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), the real prizes of the U.S. market, will ever be buyers.
Huawei also recently lost John Roese, its senior vice president, who's become CTO at EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC).
Bross is known to Light Reading readers going way back to his days with Williams Communications, where he got unwanted attention for accepting pre-IPO stock from equipment companies. He later joined BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) and spent seven years helping implement its 21CN strategy.
Huawei gave Bross some kind words in confirming his departure. "Matt not only has been a key figure in Huawei technology advancements in the past three years, he also brought a business acumen that contributed significantly to Huawei’s continuous pursuit of customer-centric innovation of products and solutions. We thank Matt for all of his contributions to Huawei and wish him well in the future," Huawei spokeswoman Jannie Luong wrote in an email to Light Reading.
For more
- Clearwire Will Keep Using Huawei
- US vs Huawei/ZTE: The Verdict
- Huawei's R&D Man Quits for EMC
- Huawei Makes Its Enterprise Pitch
- Where's Matty?
- Matt Bross Joins Huawei as CTO
- Bross Exit = End of an Era
- Williams' CTO Profits From His Position
— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading
Anyone who is in the market for an exec who will make major purchasing decisions while openly taking shares awarded by the suppliers, here's your chance.