Internet of Everything boss leaves Cisco

Jouret had been with the company decades and is moving on after one year at new division

Cisco's global Internet of Things (IoT) chief Guido Jouret stepped down on Friday US time, reports confirm.

The vendor confirmed to media on Friday that Jouret is leaving "to pursue a new opportunity". Jouret, who has been with Cisco for about 20 years, had led the IoT division focused on developing relevant product since it was formed in 2013.

Cisco senior vice president of enterprise networking and IoT groups Rob Soderbery is to lead Jouret's unit until further notice, reports said.

The move comes as industry noise from commentators continues to cast doubt over the safety of connecting everything online. Some believe that internet security lags too far behind the technology, and questions about reasonable risk for businesses and individuals alike have not been answered.

Other concerns have also been raised, including about the interoperability of the extensive amounts of kit needed to facilitate the IoT and the need for industry standards to be adopted and enforced.

However, Cisco – which likes to call the trend the Internet of Everything – says the global market could be worth $19tn (£11.2tn) by 2020.

The networking giant has been spearheading a multi-vendor consortium attempting to resolve some of these issues, alongside AT&T, IBM, Intel, and General Electric.

Cisco gave no clues as to the full reason for Jouret's departure.