Agenda Setters: Where are they now... Niklas Zennström

As the countdown begins to silicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 10 positions in 2005. Today it's the turn of last year's number 4, Skype CEO Niklas Zennström.

Niklas Zennström earned a high placing on the 2005 Agenda Setters list on the back of the success of Skype and more generally the voice over IP technology his company popularised.

At the time of last year's poll, Skype had been bought by eBay, though the Agenda Setters panel still believed Zennström would hold considerable power as eBay vowed to keep Skype a separate, though integrated fiefdom.

Fast-forward 12 months and though Skype is still a big name in tech, the VoIP hype has quietened down as it becomes a more accepted part of corporate telecoms systems and data networks. Sure, VoIP has influenced the big telcos and enterprise networking players - but it hasn't put them out of business, as some predicted the technology could do.

Much less has been heard out of Zennström at the eBay-owned Skype than the independent Skype - no longer does he have such a public CEO role. That role is played quite well indeed by Meg Whitman.

But we still bet the Swede will earn a spot on the Agenda Setters list this year - though perhaps not as high as number 4.

Why? Because he's still the poster boy for VoIP and the poster boy for disruptive technologies, having also started the peer-to-peer upstart Kazaa.

Zennström's got at least another year to ride from Skype's success - but as for his impact in 2007 we're not as sure.

silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September with the results revealed at the end of the month. If you want to pass on your comments for our experts - about Niklas Zennström or any other contender - drop us an email at editorial@silicon.com.