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