Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Comment (10)
Ellacoya Networks Inc., a startup developing an IP service platform for service providers and carriers, announced today that Ron Sege will take over as president and CEO, replacing Ellacoya founder Kurt Dobbins, who will now become CTO.
Sege has experience both in delivering content and selling hardware-based IP switching and routing solutions. Before coming to Ellacoya he was president of U.S. operations at Terra Lycos SA (Nasdaq: TRLY), an Internet content and services provider. Before that, he was running the enterprise switching and routing business for 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS).
So far, Ellacoya has raised about $86 million in funding from premiere VCs and investment banks like Goldman Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS) (see Ellacoya Gets a Blue-Chip Backer). It has introduced its product vision of an IP service platform that enables providers to quickly create and automatically roll out customized, subscription-based IP services and applications over broadband and optical networks, but the company has yet to announce key customer contracts that will push it past the PowerPoint stage.
Sege says not to worry, customer announcements will be coming soon. “We’re getting the product into beta trials now, and if that goes well we’ll be announcing customers later in the spring. So we expect to be off to the races in the next month or so.”
Sege leaves Terra Lycos at a grim time. A year ago Terra Lycos was trading at $130 a share, and today it trades at around $14. 3Com has also seen some dark days in the last year. In July the company’s stock dropped from $68 a share to $12 in one day.
-- Marguerite Reardon, senior editor, Light Reading http://www.lightreading.com
Sege has experience both in delivering content and selling hardware-based IP switching and routing solutions. Before coming to Ellacoya he was president of U.S. operations at Terra Lycos SA (Nasdaq: TRLY), an Internet content and services provider. Before that, he was running the enterprise switching and routing business for 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS).
So far, Ellacoya has raised about $86 million in funding from premiere VCs and investment banks like Goldman Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS) (see Ellacoya Gets a Blue-Chip Backer). It has introduced its product vision of an IP service platform that enables providers to quickly create and automatically roll out customized, subscription-based IP services and applications over broadband and optical networks, but the company has yet to announce key customer contracts that will push it past the PowerPoint stage.
Sege says not to worry, customer announcements will be coming soon. “We’re getting the product into beta trials now, and if that goes well we’ll be announcing customers later in the spring. So we expect to be off to the races in the next month or so.”
Sege leaves Terra Lycos at a grim time. A year ago Terra Lycos was trading at $130 a share, and today it trades at around $14. 3Com has also seen some dark days in the last year. In July the company’s stock dropped from $68 a share to $12 in one day.
-- Marguerite Reardon, senior editor, Light Reading http://www.lightreading.com
Marguerite Reardon
12/4/2012 | 8:56:49 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
There has been a lot of hype surrounding Ellacoya, but will they really deliver on their promises? Has anyone heard of real live customers interested in the product?
rafaelg
12/4/2012 | 8:56:49 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Also...Does this have anything to do with Robert Davis leaving Terra Lycos? Hum...
rafaelg
12/4/2012 | 8:56:49 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Considering all the platform for IP providers and the history that follows Sege, what are his chances for success? Explain please!
tecpatl
12/4/2012 | 8:56:48 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Jim-Have you (personally) or Vialight received an equity position in Ellacoya?
-Stu
Marguerite Reardon
12/4/2012 | 8:56:48 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
The smaller version of the product handles much fewer subscribers. Based on your experience, do you think the carrier-size box will actually be able to scale?
[email protected]
12/4/2012 | 8:56:48 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
As one of EllacoyaGÇÖs initial beta test customers, ViaLight can attest to the fact that the capabilities delivered by EllacoyaGÇÖs products are real. EllacoyaGÇÖs products are a key component for global deployment of ViaLightGÇÖs very high performance IP data networks into public spaces (Public Data Networks). We have Ellacoya products in actual use providing services to real customers on a beta trial basis. WeGÇÖve been impressed with EllacoyaGÇÖs responsiveness in adding capability and addressing issues found during beta testing.
marshotel
12/4/2012 | 8:56:40 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Interesting how the conversation shifts from "are there real products or just hype" to personal attacks and FUD about scalability when a real customer responds.
tecpatl
12/4/2012 | 8:56:33 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
It's even more interesting how a perfectly valid question is interpreted as a personal attack. The answer to my question determines whether or not they are a "real" customer, or simply a "bought" customer. My bet is that it's the latter.Also interesting is the fact that Ellacoya's product strategy is simply the rehashing and repositioning of a failed technology from Cabletron called SecureFast. SecureFast was a proprietary MPOA-like switching architecture that was policy/directory-based. Cabletron was late to market delivering the technology, and regardless it proved far too complex for the enterprise.
So what's the next logical step you ask? Start a new company, repackage the technology with some updated features and see if we can sell it to Service Providers? hmmm...
-Stu
[email protected]
12/4/2012 | 8:54:12 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
Sorry for the delay in responding. I was on vacation for the last week. I do not personally have any equity position in Ellacoya. ViaLight has a very small equity position but it is not significant and in no way would influence a technical judgement of whether the product works or not.
If the product didn't deliver we wouldn't be investing the time and effort to make it part of a larger system.
[email protected]
12/4/2012 | 8:54:11 PM
re: Ellacoya Taps New CEO
I don't have an answer to this question at this time - we will need to get time on the larger box. We have every reason to believe the architecture is scalable in our application given the experience with the smaller unit to date. Most importantly, the Ellacoya solution directly addresses the functional needs we must have in a 100Mbps per subscriber all fiber network.
