DALLAS -- Krish Prabhu, Alcatel SA's (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA) former chief operating officer, has joined Morgenthaler Ventures as a venture partner, Morgenthaler said Monday (see Ex-Alcatel Honcho Joins VC Firm). Prabhu will remain in Dallas to help the Menlo Park, California-based venture capital and buyout firm invest in early-stage telecom companies here.

Prabhu was Alcatel's COO from October 1999 to August 2001. He began working for Alcatel back in 1991 when it bought Rockwell International’s network transmission division. Prior to that he worked at AT&T Corporation’s Bell Laboratories as a senior member of the technical staff.

He currently sits on the boards of Alcatel, Cenix Inc., and Glow Networks. He also served on the SmartPipes Inc. board earlier this year.

Prabhu is a bit of a local legend here in the Texas Telecom Corridor. He was equally feared and respected during his tenure at Alcatel. He held senior management positions during Alcatel's two largest multibillion-dollar acquisitions -- its 1998 purchase of DSC Communications and its purchase of Newbridge Networks in early 2000.

He was once accused in court documents filed by Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) of vowing to spend $50 million to put a stop to Monterey Networks, the wavelength router company, then led by former Alcatel executive Joe Bass, that Cisco bought in 1999.

Of course, Prabhu didn't have to lift a finger to stop Monterey. Cisco shut down the project all by itself earlier this year.

Prabhu will initially be working closely with Yotta Networks Inc. and Westwave Communications, according to a Morgenthaler spokesman.

— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com