Carl Moberg

Hands-on Field CTO & Co-Founder who still ships: network automation, edge orchestration, AI agents · $175M exit Tail-f Systems, acquired by Cisco

Stockholm, Sweden (previously based in Silicon Valley, CA · open to relocation) · callemoberg@gmail.com

Executive Profile

Technology executive and hands-on practitioner with a 25-year track record at the intersection of infrastructure automation and AI deployment. Equally comfortable driving customer conversations, writing specs, and architecting solutions as setting product strategy and staying deep in the technical detail. Co-founded Avassa Systems (enterprise edge AI); drove $100M+ revenue products at Cisco (NSO); engineered and commercialized ConfD/NCS at Tail-f through its $175M Cisco acquisition.

Core Competencies: Product leadership · AI/ML infrastructure · Edge computing · Platform strategy · LLM integration · MCP / AI agent orchestration · Prototyping & demo engineering · Network automation · Distributed systems · Enterprise architecture · Developer ecosystems · Thought leadership

Professional Experience

Avassa Systems, Co-founder & CTO

March 2020 – May 2026 · Stockholm, Sweden

Co-founded Avassa to solve deployment and operations of containerised applications and AI/ML inference workloads at the distributed edge, a segment underserved by hyperscale cloud platforms. Venture-backed, with enterprise customers across manufacturing, retail, and critical infrastructure. As CTO, led technology vision, product positioning, partner network, analyst relations, and technical go-to-market.

• Defined the company's market position and product thesis. Identified target customer segments, mapped the competitive position against hyperscale platforms and legacy vendors, and developed the technical narrative used in analyst briefings, enterprise sales, and investor communications. Recruited and onboarded the company's first marketing hire.
• Built MCP-based AI agent orchestration for edge operations (hands-on with LLM tool-calling, agent design, and integration), enabling engineers to manage distributed infrastructure through natural language interfaces.
• Owned and continuously developed a multi-scenario demo framework implementation for recorded and live product demonstration, including presentation materials.
• Drove customer conversations on production AI/ML inference at the edge across manufacturing, retail, and critical infrastructure, enabling low-latency model inference across distributed OT/IT environments without cloud dependency.
• Led analyst relations, securing recognition from Gartner (Cool Vendor, Edge Computing 2022), Intellyx (Digital Innovation Award, Winter 2024), and QKS Group (SPARK Matrix: Edge Management & Orchestration, 2025), establishing Avassa as a recognised name in the edge computing analyst community.

Cisco, Senior Director of Product Management

August 2014 – March 2020 · Stockholm, Sweden

Joined Cisco through the acquisition of Tail-f Systems, taking a senior role in the Service Provider Business Unit. Led product management for Cisco's Network Services Orchestrator (NSO), a network automation platform serving 150 major enterprise and service provider customers with $100M+ annual revenue contribution.

• Led product strategy and GTM execution across Cisco's global service provider base, spanning orchestration of virtualised and cloud-native networks, directly influencing a $100M+ revenue product line.
• Drove NSO product roadmap through a major industry transition to SDN, NFV, and network programmability, maintaining platform relevance and expanding the addressable market through API-first and developer ecosystem investment.
• Built and led a team of product managers and developer community leaders, creating the partner and ISV ecosystem programmes that extended NSO's reach beyond Cisco's direct sales motion.
• Collaborated with engineering, sales, and field teams across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific to align product direction with enterprise architecture requirements at scale.
• Stayed technically hands-on in the YANG ecosystem by building and maintaining open-source language tools.

Tail-f Systems AB, Employee #3 · VP Engineering → COO → VP Technology / North America CTO

June 2006 – August 2014 · Stockholm, Sweden & Silicon Valley, CA

Joined as the third employee in 2006 and held roles spanning engineering, operations, and technology leadership as the company scaled from founding to a $175M acquisition by Cisco in 2014. Built the ConfD and NCS product lines that became the basis of Cisco NSO.

• VP Engineering (2006–2008): Built and led the founding engineering organisation through early-stage growth, from initial product to a stable team on consistent release cadences.
• COO (2007–2010): Ran day-to-day operations including finance, customer success, and partnerships as the company scaled from early startup to product-market fit and revenue growth.
• VP Technology / North America CTO (2010–2014): Led global commercialisation of ConfD and NCS. Relocated to Silicon Valley in 2013 to establish US operations, drive strategic partnerships, and lead technical sales engagement in the period leading up to the $175M Cisco acquisition.
• Built and maintained demo scenarios and quality-of-life tools for ConfD and NCS users throughout the company's growth.

ServiceFactory AB, Co-founder & Director

November 1999 – May 2006 · Stockholm, Sweden

Co-founded ServiceFactory, a developer of customer service and provisioning platforms for internet service providers. Designed and implemented the core platform architecture; transitioned from technical founder to Director, leading product lifecycle management, roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market execution.

Telia AB, Senior Network Architect / Network Operations Engineer

January 1997 – November 1999 · Stockholm, Sweden

One of the principal architects of Telia's second-generation internet services platform, an industry first supporting diverse access types and application services to millions of subscribers. Defined and maintained the architecture of the European and North American IP transport network, with active participation in IETF and RIPE. As Postmaster of the telia.com domain, operated an email infrastructure serving 750,000 subscribers across three countries.

Board & Advisory Experience

• Netnod Internet Exchange i Sverige AB, Board Member, 2020–2023
• Pocket Media Group, Chairman, December 2010–March 2012
• Birdstep Technology, Advisor, 2006–2011

Selected Industry Engagements

• Margo (Linux Foundation), Technical Working Group Member, edge computing interoperability initiative
• European Commission, Expert Interview, edge node deployment, 2024
• IETF YANG Doctors, Expert Reviewer, 2017–2021
• CableLabs, Contributing Engineer
• Metro Ethernet Forum, Member & Contributor

Selected Patents & Publications

• Patent: Detecting and Managing Recurring Patterns in Device and Service Configuration Data (US10462010B2)
• IETF RFC: RFC 8199, YANG Module Classification (IETF, 2017)
• Publication: A Next Generation Provisioning Architecture for the New Cable Headend Platform (CableLabs)
• Analyst Recognition: Gartner Cool Vendor, Edge Computing, 2022 (Avassa)
• Award: Intellyx Digital Innovation Award, Winter 2024 (Avassa)
• Analyst Recognition: QKS Group SPARK Matrix: Edge Management & Orchestration Platforms, 2025 (Avassa)
• Award: 2016 Telly Award, for web content created for This Week in Tech (TWiT) at Cisco

Selected Talks

• From Lab to Field: Operating AI Models Across Thousands of Edge Devices, embedded world, Nuremberg 2026
• MCP Meets Edge Management: Using Claude as an Edge Operations Interface, 2025 (31 min)
• Building an Infrastructure Stack for AI-Ready IT/OT, SPS 2025 (16 min)
• Panel: The Future of Industrial Edge Computing, Hannover Messe 2025
• Charmed by Linux, Haunted by VMs: A Container-First Lifestyle at the Edge, TechEx 2024 (25 min)
• How to Achieve Cloud-Like Operations for Distributed Edge Deployments, Edge Computing World, Santa Clara 2022 (20 min)
• Avassa presents at Edge Field Day 3, Edge Field Day 3, 2024

Education

KTH Royal Institute of Technology · Studies in Electrical Engineering · 1993–1995 · No degree conferred; left to join Telia's internet operations team

Personal

Languages: Swedish (native), English (fluent)

Personal: Avid cyclist; commutes year-round and competes in masters races. Knows an unreasonable amount about electro-acoustic and drone music. Has been known to write a fable or two - yes, the kind with animals that finishes with a saying.