David S. Morgan

Career Accomplishments

I think of my career spanning multiple distinct phases participating on significant industry revolutions in voice, video, and cloud infrastructure. The following is a walk-through in detail of my career accomplishments:

• Early Career - Foundations in Carrier-Grade Voice & Networking

  At AT&T (International Network Technology Division), I converted a summer internship into a full-time engineering role, testing AT&T contributions to ITU-T SS7 standards (Q.703/E.733) and qualifying 5ESS-based Signaling Transfer Point migrations—experience that grounded me in large-scale voice signaling and network reliability.

  After that, I joined Cisco as a Technical Marketing Engineer working on Service-Provider VoIP. I was recruited to help global MSOs and telcos adopt VoIP. Built multi-vendor labs, authored implementation guides, and delivered field training on SIGTRAN gateways, VoIP-to-TDM interconnect, cable broadband, PWLAN, and core-routing solutions. These engagements honed my ability to translate complex technology into deployable, revenue-generating services - skills that set the stage for the triple-play and video revolutions I later participated in.

• The Triple Play Revolution

  While at Cisco during the height of the Triple-Play Revolution, I worked directly with leading MSOs (most notably Comcast, Cox and Time Warner) in their evolution from video-only cable operators with zero voice customers into top-ten U.S. telecommunications providers. I helped bridge their engineering teams with Cisco's carrier-grade voice portfolio, helping them deploy packet-cable telephony and supporting systems needed to scale millions of new subscribers.

  In support of Cisco's open-standards strategy, I represented the company at multiple MGCP, Megaco, and SIP interoperability events, validating our trunk- and residential-gateway (TGW/RGW) and soft-switch platforms against other vendors' gear and feeding competitive analyses back to product marketing. To accelerate field adoption, I also designed and ran a multi-site lab complex dedicated to service-provider broadband and wireless proof-of-concepts, training, and application testing—supporting 15-20 concurrent projects and a dozen-plus engineers at any given time.

• The TV Everywhere Revolution

  In the late-2000s the video industry was racing to give consumers "any video, any device, anywhere." Sensing a shift as fundamental as the earlier VoIP wave, I moved from service-provider voice into the service provider video business unit at Cisco and built a full Scientific-Atlanta cable head-end and multi-service lab from scratch. That sandbox became the proving ground for early content-delivery-network (CDN) wins—including Telstra's first large-scale streaming rollout—and for hands-on exploration of transcoding, storage, routing, and QoS challenges unique to video.

  I quickly turned those experiments into live demonstrations: repurposing traditional coax-fed set-top boxes to play Internet-sourced content, showcasing prototype "TV Everywhere" experiences at CES, SCTE, NCTA, and Nexcom. As adaptive-bit-rate (ABR) streaming standards emerged, I championed the technology inside the company, authoring best-practice guides and field training that accelerated operator adoption worldwide.

  Promoted first to Solutions Architect and later to Principal Engineer (the third-highest technical grade at the company), I directed end-to-end architectures for our flagship OTT and cloud-DVR platforms—branded Videoscape Unity and Videoscape Video Everywhere. A flagship cloud-DVR deployment served more than two million subscribers, spanning thousands of VMs, tens of thousands of containers, and hundreds of petabytes of video-optimized storage. I led the cloud-native transformation that moved appliance workloads to virtualization, then to Kubernetes, while instituting CI/CD and DevOps pipelines that paved the way for a SaaS delivery model.

  Along the way I provided technical due diligence on strategic video acquisitions (Inlet Technologies, BNI Video, Extend Media, NDS) and co-authored six patents covering media storage, content delivery, and cloud DVR. I also served as consulting architect to the largest U.S. cable operator, helping harden its white-label IP-video platform for high availability.

  From pioneering ABR proofs-of-concept to steering billion-dollar product lines toward cloud and SaaS, I helped convert "TV Everywhere" from a marketing slogan into an operational reality, driving the industry's transition from broadcast QAM and multicast IPTV to OTT IP-based on-demand video at global scale.

• The Cloud-First Communication Revolution

  When Cisco divested its service-provider video business in 2018, I used the inflection point to pivot from video systems to the broader world of cloud infrastructure and joined Bandwidth (2019) as a Solution Architect. My first mandate was to craft a data-driven strategy for migrating on-prem workloads to public-cloud platforms (AWS) balancing cost, performance, and competitive differentiation. One of the earliest wins was leading a redesign of the customer-facing Dashboard application: replacing an ad-hoc "spin-up-when-a-hurricane-hits" AWS clone with a permanently geo-redundant, multi-region architecture that we fail-tested repeatedly, turning a high-risk manual process into a near-hitless failover that met stringent SLA targets. RTO/RPO times went from vague estimates of somewhere between hours-to-days to confident and validated minutes.

  I next partnered with InfoSec to align our stack with HIPAA, CPNI, and GDPR requirements for a Fortune 10 customer, and when COVID-driven traffic spikes threatened network capacity, I championed an AWS-based voice-network burst architecture that kept call quality intact while we plotted a longer-term native cloud migration.

  Adding Technical Product Ownership to my existing Solutions Architecture scope, I built and led a team of five TPOs/SAs supporting seven scrum squads (~60 engineers) covering Platform, Systems Infrastructure, Cloud, Developer Experience, Observability, Data Engineering/Infrastructure, ML/AI, and Voice Insights. We rationalized a sprawl of monitoring tools (Datadog, Elastic, Sumo Logic, LogicMonitor, Zenoss, home-grown systems) into a cohesive observability strategy; matured our AWS usage into multi-account/Kubernetes estate via IaC; wrangled vendor product and SaaS costs (e.g. Snowflake, Datadog); and stood up a mixed on-shore/off-shore model that scaled delivery without overloading cognitive capacity. We also managed central platform budgets of over $10M/yr.

  To unlock new value streams, we championed several AI initiatives:

  • Internal GenAI Knowledge Assistant: built on AWS Bedrock and Slack, cutting support turnaround from hours to minutes for platform teams.
  • Customer-Facing Contact-Center Bot: an AWS Contact-Center-Intelligence proof-of-concept that deflected high-volume "how-to" tickets and surfaced live porting status on demand.
  • ML-Based SMS Campaign Pre-Vet: slashed message-campaign approval backlogs from 4–8 weeks to less than 48 hours by auto-validating submissions and flagging gaps before review.

  Together, these projects pushed Bandwidth toward a cloud-first, AI-enabled communications platform - fortifying resilience, tightening compliance, and accelerating both employee and customer experience.

• Early-Stage Product & Architecture Leadership

  My most recent phase of my work has focused on operating in ambiguity; helping early-stage teams move from ideas to something concrete enough to evaluate. Across multiple pre-seed and early startups, I applied product thinking, system design, and hands-on technical judgment to shape initial architectures, guide early roadmaps, and support internal launches and pilot discussions. While outcomes are still emerging, the work reinforced my ability to adapt across different stages of the product lifecycle and contribute effectively when structure and clarity are still forming.

Education

• 
  M.S. Computer Science

  New Jersey Institute of Technology

  1998 - 2000
• 
  B.S. Computer Science

  New Jersey Institute of Technology

  1994 - 1997
• 
  A.S. Computer Science

  Middlesex College

  1991 - 1994

Work Experience

• GTS Gravitas Tech & Solutions, Inc

  September 2025 - Present

  https://gts-gravitas.com
  • Director of Solution Architecture and Product

    September 2025 - Present

    In this phase of the startup, my role has been to translate an early idea into something tangible enough to reason about: technically, commercially, and strategically. I designed the MVP architecture, selected and integrated the core technologies, and built most of the backend implementation, while also coordinating work with contractors. The emphasis wasn't on shipping a complete product, but on creating a foundation that could support real conversations and informed decisions.

    A meaningful part of my work involved researching how similar problems are approached in the market today. By studying existing implementations and patterns, both successful and flawed, I helped shape the initial product direction and roadmap, focusing on the areas most likely to demonstrate value and technical credibility early. This research informed not just what we built, but what we deliberately chose not to build yet.

    The outcome was a limited, internal-only release running on real backend infrastructure rather than prototypes or mock services. While intentionally incomplete, it enabled early discussions with investors and testing with prospective customers, grounding those conversations in working systems and observable behavior. For me, this phase reinforced the importance of treating early product development as a learning exercise, one where architecture, product judgment, and execution need to evolve together.

• Scheduler RX

  October 2025 - Present

  https://schedulerrx.com
  • Technical Advisor

    October 2025 - Present

    I've been advising Scheduler RX, a pre-seed healthcare startup focused on addressing persistent scheduling gaps across residency programs and regional hospital systems. My involvement has been intentionally scoped, centering on mentoring the founder through early product and technical decisions rather than hands-on build work. This has included guidance on bringing a B2B healthcare product to market, shaping an initial system architecture with scalability in mind, and making pragmatic cloud and technology choices aligned with pilot-stage realities.

    A recurring theme in this work has been helping impose structure and discipline early: clarifying sequencing, timing, and cost tradeoffs, and identifying where limited development effort is best applied to support early customer engagement. As the company has begun engaging with residency programs as an initial entry point, my focus has been on ensuring the technical and operational foundations support pilot customers without over-engineering, while preserving a clear path toward future growth and resource augmentation.

• Bandwidth, Inc.

  September 2019 - June 2025

  https://www.bandwidth.com
  • Director, Technical Product Management

    August 2021 - June 2025

    Part of the Tech/Dev group responsible for operating a global CPaaS network and communications platform serving large and medium-sized service providers (SPs) and enterprises.

    In my most recent position at Bandwidth, I was asked to build a brand-new organization that would knit together product ownership, architecture, and engineering governance for every centralized platform the company depends on. Starting as a player-coach, I hired three Technical Product Owners and two Solution Architects, then set the vision, multi-year roadmaps, and operating cadence for maximizing the value of a blended on-shore/off-shore Agile-based workforce of ~60 engineers . Our remit spanned the full systems stack: compute, storage, virtualization, networking, containerization, developer-productivity tooling, data engineering, and AI/ML; while stewarding a $10 million-plus annual budget and an eclectic product portfolio that included multi-account AWS environments, VMware, Elastic, Openshift, EKS, Datadog, Sumo Logic, Snowflake, Kafka, MariaDB, and carrier-grade voice-observability platforms (e.g. InfoVista).

    Day-to-day, I acted as the Technical Product Owner for the Systems, Platform, Observability, and Developer-Productivity lines, prioritizing backlogs, enforcing roadmap and JIRA hygiene, and aligning dozens of squads around shared objectives. I architected a federated, multi-account AWS organization that embedded security guardrails, cost-attribution tags, and show-back/charge-back reporting, while advising teams on hybrid-cloud and Kubernetes strategy. At the same time, I drove platform-modernization and lifecycle programs, retiring end-of-life OpenShift and RHV clusters, migrating legacy data-center tooling, and ensuring service parity across global sites (adding 4 colo data centers and 2 AWS regions), without disrupting critical CPaaS workloads.

    Efficiency and innovation advanced in parallel. My team consolidated observability spend by rationalizing Datadog, Elastic, Sumo Logic, LogicMonitor and custom tools under a unified strategy, leveraging a telemetry pipeline as a vendor-agnostic abstraction layer, slashing noise for the NOC and trimming millions in run-rate costs. We also championed applied-AI initiatives that yielded a Slack-integrated generative-AI knowledge assistant on AWS Bedrock, an omni-channel AI agent prototype using AWS Contact Center Intelligence to reduce support tickets, and an AI-powered vetting tool that cut messaging-campaign registration backlogs from weeks to days. Throughout, I partnered daily with Finance, InfoSec, the NOC, Product, and Engineering leadership to reconcile requirements, secure funding, properly categorize work, and unblock dependencies, while instituting capacity reviews, metric-driven retrospectives, and continuous-improvement loops that elevated operational excellence. Finally, I cultivated a community of practice for Technical Product Ownership, coaching new POs, sharing playbooks, and standardizing how infrastructure and platform teams present their services, so the organization could scale efficiently.

  • Director, Solutions Architecture

    September 2019 - July 2021

    In my first role at Bandwidth, I was nominally part of the Solutions Architecture group, yet I took day-to-day direction from both the SVP of Software Development and the SVP of Engineering & Operations, giving me a mandate to solve cross-organizational infrastructure challenges. I was asked to chart the company's transition from a legacy, on-prem footprint to a cloud-first operating model, starting with an internal development-platform strategy and the launch of a Cloud Center of Excellence that united infrastructure engineers, developers, and architects under one governance framework. I produced the cost-and-performance analyses and business case that unlocked phased funding for migrating customer-facing workloads, while simultaneously defining enterprise architecture principles, standards, and an Architectural Review Board process to ensure every future decision met quality and compliance targets.

    As a hands-on Solution Architect I led the engineering and development teams in designing a resilient, multi-account, multi-region AWS foundation. That work included VPC-to-colo interconnects that preserved low-latency call signaling while adding automated disaster-recovery failover and geo-redundancy that met aggressive RTO/RPO objectives to satisfy stringent SLAs. Alongside InfoSec and several Fortune 10 customers, I embedded HIPAA, GDPR, FCC/CPNI, and BAA controls into a zero-trust reference architecture with standardized audit logging. I also championed modernization of our monitoring, logging, and automation stack, retiring or re-implementing legacy tools such as Zenoss, QRadar, and home grown tools in favor of cloud-native solutions that tightened security posture, reduced operational overhead and reduced noise for on-call teams.

    A parallel track tackled network and platform evolution. I authored the blueprint that virtualized carrier-grade session-border controllers and other telephony appliances onto container platforms, introduced fine-grained network segmentation to curb lateral movement risk, and replaced internally hosted commodity services with managed AWS alternatives to cut toil and cost. Throughout, I acted as a cross-functional enabler for Product, Operations, and Security teams—translating roadmap priorities into epics and backlogs, mentoring engineers, and ensuring every change drove measurable improvements in availability, scalability, and total cost of ownership. Collectively, these initiatives accelerated feature delivery, lowered operational risk, and positioned Bandwidth for sustained, cloud-driven growth.

• Cisco Systems

  January 2001 - August 2019

  https://www.cisco.com
  • Principal Engineer, Solutions Architect

    May 2014 - August 2019

    I worked in the SP Video Software and Solutions (SPVSS) group, delivering video products and services to global SP and content provider customers. SPVSS was spun off as Synamedia in November 2018.

    As a newly promoted Principal Engineer, I became the lead architect for Cisco's cloud-DVR (cDVR) portfolio, owning the end-to-end definition of both control-plane and media-plane functions. I guided multiple engineering groups as we built an AWS-native orchestration stack that introduced continuous-integration pipelines and later full continuous deployment—an approach that dramatically shortened feature lead time for operators adopting our platform. My remit included architecture ownership for the packager subsystem, media-workflow automation, and solution-wide observability, and I chaired cross-organization working groups that standardized storage APIs and monitoring blueprints across several Cisco business units and partner companies.

    Key programs reflected the breadth of that responsibility. The cDVR solution I shepherded progressed from lab trials to live networks serving several million subscribers, and eventually to various stages of rollout with a dozen additional operators worldwide. In parallel I was a Cisco core-architecture delegate on Comcast's X1 syndication program, concentrating on media-plane evolution and the insertion of new MOS/COS products into the X1 stack. Embedded with Comcast's VIPER engineering team, I evaluated high-availability patterns, authored proofs of concept, and acted as a key solution architect onboarding new "retailer" MSOs - translating their requirements into system designs that aligned with our shared roadmap.

    Complementing these efforts, I co-led the Videoscape Video Everywhere initiative, where I drafted the control-plane cloud-migration strategy and mapped a pragmatic path from monoliths toward API-centric, micro-service architectures. The plan integrated CI/CD and DevOps practices to eliminate legacy release bottlenecks and positioned the solution for "Video-as-a-Service" delivery across both public clouds and Cisco's own infrastructure. Together, these projects advanced Cisco's transition to cloud-first video platforms and solidified my role as a trusted advisor to tier-one service providers navigating the shift to IP, multiscreen, and software-defined delivery models.

  • Technical Leader II, Solutions Architect

    May 2010 - May 2014

    I stepped into a solutions architect position, helping crystallize the company's "Videoscape" strategy for cloud-based, multiscreen video delivery. Building on earlier work with hyper-syndicated content, I defined the storage, compute, network, and virtualization pillars of the end-to-end architecture. This was encompassing content acquisition, high-density transcoding, origin services, and global distribution. I authored successive system-architecture specifications for internal releases such as QuickStart, 4.5, and 5.0, driving alignment across multiple business units and shepherding core capabilities (session management, ABR encryption, and cloud DVR features) into the product roadmap.

    As lead systems architect for Telstra, Videoscape's inaugural innovation partner, I served as the primary technical interface, running on-site workshops to capture requirements, validate roadmaps, and refine our solution stack. I also briefed global audiences at Cisco Live 2010-11 on service-provider content-delivery design, while influencing flagship products such as VOS and VDS (fka CDS-IS); one collaboration produced a patented session-tracking model that underpins ABR access protection today. My remit extended to M&A diligence for acquisitions including NDS, Inlet, Extend Media, and BNI, after which I mentored incoming engineers and helped fuse their technologies into the broader platform.

    Following the NDS integration I co-authored the "True North" architecture and co-led the Videoscape Unity Video Everywhere program, an end-to-end blueprint that let traditional cable operators stream to smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Partnering with an ex-NDS counterpart, I defined technical requirements, coordinated cross-BU development, and worked with operators such as Eastlink, Bharti Airtel, Ziggo, and MTN to tailor deployments and win competitive RFPs. Throughout, I collaborated with storage vendors including NetApp and EMC to benchmark NAS, SAN, and object-storage options, publishing joint collateral that optimized price-performance for large-scale video workloads and cemented Videoscape's credibility as a cloud-ready, carrier-grade solution.

  • Technical Leader I, TME

    October 2007 - May 2010

    In my first role focusing on Service Provider Video, where I joined a small tiger team formed to integrate Arroyo's video-on-demand/content delivery platform immediately after the acquisition by Cisco. Acting as a technical marketing engineer, I worked hand-in-hand with ex-Arroyo and core Cisco video engineering to knit their products into our broader cable-video portfolio, spun up early customer evaluations, and created hands-on training curricula that enabled field-team engineers to sell this new CDN extension to the video portfolio. I also designed and ran a purpose-built video-technologies lab anchored by a Scientific-Atlanta head-end; the facility became the proving ground for solution testing, multi-vendor integrations, switched digital video, VoD, start-over, and other IP video workflows. Beyond the lab I served as a technical contact for Tier 1 MSOs—including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Rogers; guiding pre-sales architecture reviews and troubleshooting complex solutions of mixed cable, video, and mobility services.

    The role was defined by high-visibility projects that pushed Cisco's video strategy forward. I crafted live content-delivery demonstrations for major industry shows such as SCTE Cable-Tech Expo, NCTA, NxtComm, and CES, then replicated those showcases in executive-briefing centers worldwide. To accelerate innovation I wrote a Python-driven application suite that automated discovery, ingestion, transcoding, and delivery of Internet-sourced content to legacy set-top boxes; this "hyper-syndicated video" engine powered countless proof-of-concepts and informed subsequent product roadmaps. As OTT pressure mounted, I joined a cross-BU task force evaluating SDKs, middleware stacks, and next-generation STBs, ultimately shaping an extended device portfolio that embraced in-home and over-the-top streaming. I became an early advocate of adaptive-bitrate streaming, conducting scale-impact studies, briefing global providers such as BT, Telstra, and Verizon, and driving feature enhancements across multiple product lines. Highlights included partnering with Comcast on the Excalibur and ODOL initiatives and designing an early "video pod" micro-edge concept that was deployed to serve multi-university dorm-room IPTV trials—work that laid groundwork for later CDN franchise wins.

  • Technical Marketing Engineer III

    October 2004 - October 2007

    I worked in the Service Provider Voice group, delivering VoIP and Voice products and solutions to global SPs and telcos.

    In my second Cisco assignment I moved into a customer-delivery and solutions-incubation role, inserting emerging VoIP technologies (most notably IMS and PacketCable) into service-provider labs for evaluation and pre-production hardening. I worked hand-in-hand with development, product-marketing, customer-advocacy, and account teams to surface integration gaps early, craft remediation plans, and ensure that large-market deployments stayed on schedule. To give these efforts a stable proving ground I designed and built a multi-site test facility that supported more than fifteen concurrent projects for a staff of ten to fifteen engineers, complete with broadband-subscriber and wireless-application sandboxes that mirrored real MSO topologies. Beyond the lab I provided direct guidance to Cox, Comcast, and Time Warner on upgrade sequencing, network-stability modeling, and customized MOPs, while mentoring peers on both deep technical troubleshooting and executive-level customer engagement.

    High-impact projects showcased the breadth of this remit. I led the architecture and hands-on implementation of a consumer fixed-mobile convergence proof-of-concept, offering seamless cellular-to-Wi-Fi hand-off, that John Chambers unveiled at Cisco's global analyst conference, demonstrating the company's vision for next-generation voice services. I also engineered a suite of broadband-subscriber application demonstrations that were shown to multiple C-suite decision-makers, directly influencing their adoption roadmaps. Across successive PacketCable rollouts I functioned as the escalation point for integration anomalies, using the lab environment to replicate field issues and validate fixes before they reached production, thereby safeguarding customer uptime while accelerating new-architecture adoption.

  • Technical Marketing Engineer II

    January 2001 - October 2004

    In my first role at Cisco, I served as a solutions technical marketing engineer responsible for guiding field engineers and service-provider customers through the design, validation, and rollout of next-generation broadband, packet voice, and public wireless-LAN offerings. Day to day I translated complex architectures into actionable implementation guides, design briefs, and technical presentations for both internal engineering teams and external stakeholders. I partnered closely with development and test organizations to eliminate duplicate lab work, streamline certification efforts, and resolve interoperability issues before field deployment. When customers moved into early-field trials, I provided onsite technical leadership—verifying design assumptions, troubleshooting anomalies, and ensuring new services met performance, availability, and security targets.

    Key projects including, being a core member of the team enabling a major North American MSO's first PacketCable VoIP launch, supporting evaluation and early-field testing through commercial cutover. In Europe I worked with tier-one PWLAN providers on EAP-SIM and roaming trials that ultimately shaped their nationwide hotspot strategy. To strengthen multi-vendor voice interconnects, I ran proof-of-concept labs and MGCP 1.0 interoperability events, validating Cisco Trunking and Residential Gateways against third-party Call Agents, documenting gaps, and feeding results back to product marketing. I also authored and delivered deep-dive training on MGCP and SIGTRAN, both at Cisco Networks 2002 for customers and in advanced internal courses, helping accelerate the market adoption of Cisco's softswitch and signaling-gateway portfolios.

• AT&T

  January 1997 - December 2000

  https://www.att.com
  • Senior Technical Staff Member

    August 1999 - December 2000

    I worked in the International Switching and Signaling Division (INTD), which was responsible for the engineering of the international long-distance telecommunications network switches and digital services. In 1999, the organization would become part of Concert, a joint venture between AT&T and BT.

    In this role, I worked on the technology management and planning of AT&T's International CCITT No. 7 STP (Signaling Transfer Point) network. Responsibilities included directing development, acceptance, and deployment strategy of features and products for international STPs. I also provided systems engineering and testing support of operational issues and new capabilities/features as needed. I was a subject matter expert on International MTP, SCCP, and TCAP (SS7 protocols). Key projects that I lead included: VoIP-to-legacy switched networking interoperability testing and deployment and STP capacity expansion and architecture testing.

  • Technical Staff Member

    January 1997 - August 1999

    In this role, I provided systems engineering, planning and development support for AT&T's international and global switched network features and capabilities. This includes the feasibility study, evaluation, specification, and requirements of new signaling network technologies. I assist international network operations and projects by providing CCITT No. 7 signaling and STP (Lucent's 5ESS) support. I also perform feasibility, benchmarking and testing of new features and capabilities in a lab environment using signaling protocol analyzers and simulators (I-Net Spectrum, Tekelec MGTS and others) and represented the organization on process issues and various ISO9000 certification activities. Key projects that I lead included: the testing in support of an AT&T contribution to ITU-T (Q.703/E.733), STP generic migration and acceptance testing, and co-author/presenter for mulltiple internal technical symposiums.