Sonus Networks co-founder and Chairman Emiritus Rubin Gruber will retire from the company's board of directors at the end of August, according to a company statement released on Tuesday.

According to Sonus' Web site, as chairman emiritus, Rubin drove "all of the company's business and market development activities." Going forward, Gruber will be available to assist Sonus Networks, a supplier of service provider voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure solutions.

"During the last eight years, I have had the unique opportunity to experience Sonus' growth from an idea into a global leader in the VoIP market," Gruber said in a prepared statement. "Sonus has achieved a great deal since its founding, and I remain excited about Sonus' prospects as a leader in the VoIP industry."

Upon Gruber's retirement, the company's statement listed the remaining members of Sonus' board of directors as follows: Hassan Ahmed, Bert Notini, Ed Anderson, Paul Severino, H. Brian Thompson and John Cunningham.

Sonus CEO Hassan Ahmed commented on Gruber's valuable contributions to the company.

"As co-founder and a member of our senior management team, Rubin's business acumen, industry experience, and his unwavering commitment to building Sonus into a recognized leader in the market has been a great benefit to Sonus," said Ahmed in a prepared statement. "Rubin is one of the true pioneers in our industry. Although I will personally miss his presence in the Boardroom, I share his enthusiasm for Sonus' future and look forward to building on the Company's leadership position."

In addition to Sonus, Rubin also founded VideoServer, Inc. (now ezenia!), which is a provider of multimedia communications servers.

This is the second major personnel move at Sonus in as many weeks. Last week, Sonus announced the appointment of Paul McDermott as vice president of finance, corporate controller and principal accounting officer.

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Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100033&nm=Ted%20Glanzer