Chandigarh-born software engineer Gurdeep Singh Pall has been named as the corporate vice president of Skype, a popular and free international voiceover and messaging service, by Microsoft Corporation, its developer.

Pall, 46, studied in Chandigarh's St John's school before completing his engineering degree in computer science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, and is working as corporate vice president at Microsoft Corporation. He is heading the information platform and experience team in Microsoft's new applications and services division.

According to the Microsoft website, Pall has more than 20 patents (in process or approved) in networking, VoIP and collaboration areas.

He also holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Oregon. Pall is on the board of trustees of Ashesi University, Ghana.

The first Sikh to reach the top management of Microsoft, Pall joined the company in January 1990 as a software design engineer.

He has worked on many breakthrough products in his tenure, starting with LAN Manager Remote Access Service. Pall was part of the Windows NT development team and led design and implementation of core networking technologies.

Named one of the "15 Innovators & Influencers Who Will Make A Difference" in 2008 by Information Week, Pall co-authored "Institutional Memory Goes Digital", which was published by Harvard Business Review as part of Breakthrough Ideas for 2009 and subsequently presented at the World Economic Forum 2009 in Davos.

At Microsoft, he has led acquisitions and technical partnerships with leading companies. (DNA)