MetaSwitch Forum 2009: MetaSwitch appoints Lazar CEO, adds DeNuccio to board, consolidates brand

LAS VEGAS - The executive leadership at MetaSwitch shifted a bit Tuesday, as John Lazar, formerly COO, was announced as the company's new CEO, and Kevin DeNuccio joined MetaSwitch's board of directors.

Lazar was formerly President and COO of the company's Carrier division. As CEO, he takes over executive responsibility for the entire company from founder Ian Ferguson, who continues as Chairman.

Lazar, an employee of the company for 22 years and founder of the carrier division in 2000, will oversee the company's Network Protocols and Carrier Divisions while Phil McConnell and Graeme MacArthur will continue as GMs of the two divisions.

Over the coming months, the company plans to consolidate all of its products and business operations under the MetaSwitch brand. To date, MetaSwitch has been the network products division within the Data Connection company. However, MetaSwitch has long been the fastest growing part of the company and brought in 78 percent of the revenues in 2008, so the shift is natural and necessary for clarity with customers, the media and analysts.  

In addition, MetaSwitch announced the addition of Kevin DeNuccio to its board of directors. DeNuccio is currently Vice Chairman of Redback Networks and also serves as a director on the board of JDS Uniphase Corp. Formerly, he was President and CEO of Redback for eight years, and oversaw that company's transformation and acquisition by Ericsson.

Prior to leading Redback Networks, DeNuccio was the senior vice president of worldwide service provider operations at Cisco Systems, and was the founder, president and CEO of Bell Atlantic Network Integration Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Communications).

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