DASAN Zhone Solutions consolidates under DZS unified brand
In a recent interview with Lightwave, new DASAN Zhone Solutions President and CEO Charlie Vogt said his first order of business was to integrate more fully the assets combined with the merger of DASAN Network Solutions and Zhone Technologies in 2016 and the subsequent purchase of KEYMILE in 2018 (see "Zhone Technologies, DASAN Network Solutions complete merger to form DASAN Zhone Solutions” and “DASAN Zhone Solutions to buy KEYMILE”). Step one in that process was revealed yesterday, as the company announced it will move forward under the DZS (NASDAQ: DZSI) brand with a new senior leadership team.
DZS also established what it considers its four “technology pillars” on which it will focus for growth opportunities. They include:
- 5G transport and connectivity
- next-generation fiber access including 10G-PON
- passive optical LAN for enterprises
- connected premises.
“I’ve never seen a market teeming with more opportunities than we are seeing right now with the confluence of 5G and next-generation fiber access technologies, the proliferation of IOT and cloud virtualization, and the transformation enabled by software defined networking and orchestration,” commented Vogt via a press release. “Sitting squarely in the middle of this sea change is DZS, a company uniquely positioned to capitalize on the promise of these favorable technology trends, including the fixed and mobile broadband investments being made by Rural America supported by the $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and the 5G stimulus programs globally. A market leader in next-generation broadband access technologies, and partnered with many of the world’s most innovative companies such as Rakuten and its disruptive, open vRAN 5G, DZS has the ingredients to revolutionize the broadband access and enterprise LAN markets.”
To realize such opportunities, DZS and Vogt has named a new roster of senior leaders, which includes:
- Tom Cancro, chief financial officer – formerly of GE and Verizon
- Philip Yim, chief technology officer – formerly of Allied Telesis, Turin Networks, AFC, and Siemens
- Daniel Won, chief product officer – formerly of DASAN Networks, LG, and Cisco
- Jay Hilbert, executive vice president, Americas sales – formerly of Nokia, Commscope, Cambium, and Rignet
- Kai Uebach, executive vice president, EMEA sales – formerly of Siemens Mobile Networks, Golden Towers BTS, and Telecel
- Jun Bahk, executive vice president, Asia sales – formerly of British Telecom and Korea Telecom
- Geoff Burke, chief marketing officer – formerly of Calix, Motorola/Next Level, and Broadband Forum
- Keith Nauman, executive vice president of global services – formerly of AT&T
Others who will hold key roles include:
- Mitch Fleming, North America Sales, formerly of ADTRAN, Calix, Ciena
- Seung Dong (SD) Lee, Chief Architect, formerly of DASAN Solutions
- Jerry Lee, Chief Integration Officer, formerly of PWC, Accenture and IBM
- Eric Mackey, Vice President of Sales Operations, formerly of HPE, Imagine Communications and Ribbon Communications
- Michael Siebke, Chief Information Officer, formerly of KEYMILE
- and Laura Larsen-Misunas, Chief People Officer, formerly of Zhone and Ascend Communications.
Vogt joined DZS at the beginning of this month from ATX Networks.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.