[May 02, 2013]

8×8 Appoints Ben Taft as Vice President of Inside Sales

8×8 (News – Alert), Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT), provider of innovative, cloud-based communications and computing solutions, today announced the appointment of Ben Taft to the position of Vice President of Inside Sales, reporting to 8×8 President Kim Niederman (News – Alert).

As Vice President of Inside Sales, Taft will manage a world-class sales organization, building upon existing industry-defining programs, initiatives and practices while working in tandem with marketing, product development and customer support to maintain the company’s market leading position in the hosted PBX and unified communications industry.

An accomplished B2B technology sales, marketing and business development executive with over 15 years experience, Taft most recently served as Senior Director, Global Sales Strategy & Transformation at Brocade (News – Alert) where he constructed and managed the strategy for sales and customer engagement employed by a worldwide sales organization. Prior to that, as Sr. Director, Global Inside Sales at Brocade, Taft was responsible for building the company’s global inside sales organization, including CRM systems, call center technology, sales training and best-in-practice sales and lead qualification processes. Before Brocade, Taft spent nearly ten years at Foundry Networks (News – Alert) as Vice President Corporate Marketing & Alliances and Director, Global Sales & Field Operations. At Foundry, Taft provided leadership for corporate branding, messaging, promotion and industry thought leadership and worked closely with product management to develop and market a technology roadmap to facilitate new mrket entry and better serve existing customer base.

“Ben is not only proficient in building and managing inside sales teams across the globe, he’s also an exceptionally strategic and visionary executive whose talent and expertise will serve the entire company well as we continue to lead the industry in technological innovation, market share and customer satisfaction,” said 8×8 President Kim Niederman. “I’m thrilled to welcome Ben to the 8×8 team and look forward to continued growth and success with him leading our world class sales organization.”

“8×8 has shown remarkable growth on all fronts – revenue, market share and profitability – and yet there remains a massive opportunity ahead to capture a greater share of the largely untapped business communications market that has not yet transitioned to cloud-based solutions,” said Taft. “This is truly an exciting time to join a company like 8×8 that has already made a mark for itself in the industry but has not yet hit the tip of the iceberg. I am proud to have been chosen for this critical role in the 8×8 organization.”

About 8×8, Inc.

8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) empowers business conversations for more than 30,000 small and medium-sized businesses with cloud communications services that include hosted PBX telephony, unified communications, call center software and video conferencing solutions. The company has been delivering business communications services since 2004 and has garnered a reputation for technical excellence and outstanding reliability. In 2012, 8×8 was named a market “leader” in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) in North America and was recognized as the No. 1 Provider of Hosted IP Telephony by Frost & Sullivan and Synergy Research Group. For additional information, visit www.8×8.com, or connect with 8×8 on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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