Apple Hiring Network Elites

The tech media seems to be excited over Jean-François Mulé showing up at Apple as Engineering Director with his one-liner LinkedIn update of "Challenged, inspired and part of something big." There is more here than meets the eye, since Apple recently hired one of the long-time Interconnection elites.

I have exchanged e-mails and had a couple of phone calls with Mulé over the past four years during his tenure as VP and Senior VP at CableLabs. We talked about CableLabs push to get HD voice standards codified, the adoption of CAT-iq by the cable industry, and the creation of PeerConnect, cable's peering registry, if memory serves.

All the frothing speculation seems to be around an Apple television/set top box product. Jean-François definitely knows the cable industry and might be "The Guy" to work out a deal or deals with MSOs. He also knows (computer) networking inside and out, having worked on a ton of Wi-Fi, HD voice, and bringing IP-based services into the DOCSIS cable modem world. 

He can also keep a secret – an attribute that seems to be lacking in the post-Jobs era. PeerConnect operated under the radar for over two years with Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, and Shaw Communications all participants. I heard rumors of the service from sources, but details were sketchy until CableLabs decided to decloak its existence in 2011.

Having an engineering director that understand IP communications, especially voice and peering, has to help Apple big time. Apple's launch of FaceTime Voice adds the latest layer to the company's OTT feature set, with Apple clients now able to offer high-quality voice, video, and text messaging all outside the domain of traditional telephony.  

Apple's biggest challenge remains how to create a seamless replacement for the current mish-mash of set-top box experiences spread across the cable world and get cable operators to accept such a device. U.S. operators are already marching down their path with their own vision for hardware and services and convincing them to work with Apple will be a difficult sell, especially given the high price most wireless carriers had to pay in order to carry the iPhone family. 

Regardless, Apple has to interconnect with the cable companies. It recently brought onboard Lauren Provo to handle Interconnect Relations – peering – with other companies. Previously, Provo was in charge of peering relations at Comcast (so she probably knows Mulé from CableLab), and peering negotiator at AT&T/SBC.   She's one of a select number of people that knows where all the bodies are buried when it comes to interconnections.

One other aspect to this story is that both Mulé and Provo were hired by Apple – not Google. I'm not sure if this is a reflection on Google's recruiters or if Apple is just the best place in town to be at right now.   In the past, Google took a vacuum cleaner approach to hiring as much elite talent as it could – hiring Mulé and Provo would have been a no-brainer for Google a couple of years ago.