Fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) startup Kineto Wireless Inc. has ended its search for a new CEO with the appointment of Rick Gilbert, the former king of broadband equipment vendor Copper Mountain Networks. (See Tut to Acquire Copper Mountain.)

The startup cut its original CEO, John O'Connell, back in April and appointed Nokia alumnus Scott Blaine as an interim replacement (see Kineto Cuts CEO).

Can we look to the past to see where Kineto hopes Gilbert will take it in the future? Maybe. "Under Mr. Gilbert’s leadership, Copper Mountain achieved nearly $500 million in aggregate sales and was one of the most successful initial public offerings of 1999," Kineto notes in a statement.

Gilbert also rode the wave down, though, cutting 25 percent of the company's workforce in a major restructuring in March 2001. He was no longer CEO when Copper Mountain was eventually sold to Tut Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: TUTS) this February for $10 million in stock (see Tut to Acquire Copper Mountain).
Kineto is a leading proponent of unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technology, which allows users with compliant dualmode WiFi/cellular handsets to make calls over both types of networks (see UMA Gains Ground). The Californian startup has so far garnered around $60 million in funding (see Kineto Grabs $35M).

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung