HOLMDEL, N.J. -- VPIsystems, the industry’s leading provider of engineering support system (ESS) solutions for the telecommunications industry today announced that its has appointed Doug Smidl as Global Vice President of Sales and Russ Green as Vice President of Engineering.

Mr. Smidl is responsible for worldwide sales of VPIsystems software and services through direct and indirect channels. Reporting to Mr. Smidl are the company’s worldwide sales force, sales support organization and customer service.

Mr. Smidl brings over twenty years of experience selling and globally managing sales forces selling to major carriers worldwide. He comes to VPIsystems from Vivato Networks, where he built the worldwide sales organization. Prior to that, Mr. Smidl grew worldwide sales at LightPointe Communications, a free space optics vendor, by 400% in over two years to nearly $10 million and managed the company’s partnership with Cisco. Until 2001, he was Group Vice President of Sales at ADC Telecommunications, where he oversaw sales for four divisions encompassing $500 Million revenues. Earlier at ADC, he led the sales team responsible for landing the largest order in the company’s history from SBC Communications (Ameritech) for long haul and metro fiber systems.

Mr. Green is responsible for managing VPIsystems’ engineering organization worldwide, which includes operations in Berlin, Melbourne and Minsk, Berlin, in addition to the United States. He will spearhead the aggressive development of the company’s next generation of ESS solutions.

Mr. Green has fifteen years of experience managing software engineering for large enterprise and carrier systems. Prior to joining VPIsystems, Mr. Green was VP of Development for wireless telecommunications software vendor, 724 Solutions, where he was responsible for engineering, product management and support. Before that, he was VP of Development at TANTAU Software, a leading provider of high-volume secure mobile ecommerce transactions. Mr. Green previously held senior technical directorships at Tandem Computers and DEC. He holds three patents on improving availability and concurrency in database management systems.

“As VPIsystems enters a stage of major growth in both our solutions portfolio and our global market presence, the leadership of these two seasoned executives will be of significant value,” said VPIsystems CEO and President, John Holobinko. “Doug Smidl and Russ Green have a clear understanding of the needs of carriers in today’s highly competitive marketplace, and they have both demonstrated their ability to successfully lead corporate teams through periods of intensive change and growth.”

VPIsystems Inc.