FREMONT, Calif. -- Genoa Corporation announced today that the company is making a number of key changes in light of increased focus on customer design-ins and in the context of the current business environment. Rick Gold, the company's CEO who brought the revolutionary Linear Optical Amplifier (LOA) to market, is stepping aside. In addition, the company is taking steps to cut its cost structure with a workforce reduction of approximately 20 percent. "Genoa has come to an important inflection point in its history," said Gold, who has served as president and CEO since 1998. "The LOA has been developed from a technology idea to a real, shipping product with the potential to change the economics of key pieces of optical networks. Today, as the company is actively working with customers who are embracing our product and vision, I am confident that Genoa has achieved an excellent foundation for its next phase of growth." According to Jim Witham, Genoa senior vice president of sales and marketing, this phase includes a shift in emphasis from early-stage research and development to customer-oriented product engineering. This transition, coupled with current telecommunications market conditions, accounts for the headcount reductions. "Genoa is committed to focusing resources on working closely with customer engineers to optimize the use of the LOA in their new products. Genoa's number one goal is to ensure that our customers are as successful as possible." Genoa has appointed Fariba Danesh, the company's senior vice president of operations, as acting CEO. Genoa Corp.