Adds three vice presidents and an assistant vice president to its management team

March 22, 2005

3 Min Read

FREMONT, Calif. -- Ikanos Communications, a leading developer of Fiber-Fast(TM) broadband solutions, today announced the appointment of three vice presidents and an assistant vice president to its management team. Ikanos named Dean Grumlose as vice president of marketing, Chris Smith as vice president of human resources, and promoted Derek Obata to vice president of worldwide sales. The company also named Biswa Ghosh as assistant vice president of systems engineering. These new appointments bolster the strength of the Ikanos management team during a period of increased adoption of Fiber-Fast broadband access by carriers worldwide.

As vice president of marketing, Grumlose is tasked with leading and developing the company's overall product and marketing strategy. Smith is responsible for the full integration of human resources into the business both domestically and internationally, including recruiting, assimilation, compensation and benefits management, and all aspects of employee relations. Obata, formerly vice president of sales Asia Pacific, will lead the sales organization and be responsible for developing sales and managing the operations of Ikanos' worldwide sales force. Ghosh, who reports to the vice president of systems engineering, will share the responsibility for all engineering and application support activities associated with the design of Ikanos' programmable chipsets.

"We are at a critical point of growth as we continue to expand Ikanos globally and develop our line of Fiber-Fast chipsets," said Rajesh Vashist, president and CEO of Ikanos. "With these enhancements to the Ikanos management team, we strengthen our position as we drive the company to the next phase of growth and continued success."

"Ikanos is well-positioned to address current market opportunities," said Grumlose. "There is increasing demand for broadband access worldwide, and Ikanos' extensive portfolio of Fiber-Fast chipsets provides a complete solution for the delivery of multiple high-bandwidth services."

Grumlose previously held executive and marketing positions at Azanda Network Devices, PMC-Sierra, Conexant, Velio, and AMD. At PMC-Sierra, he was responsible for Voice over IP (VoIP), switch fabric, network processing, and traffic management product lines. At Conexant, Grumlose led the Multi-Service Access business unit through four years of rapid growth.

"I joined Ikanos because it's a strong company that is expanding worldwide," said Smith. "As Ikanos grows both domestically and internationally, my human resources experience will help the company expand while sustaining its solid foundation."

Prior to joining Ikanos, Smith was vice president of human resources at Tularik Inc., where he helped grow the company from 50 to over 400 employees. There he was responsible for overall human resources management, including staffing, compensation, supervisory training and management development.

"As Ikanos continues to expand globally, it is critical that the company expands its capability to support current and new customers and ramp up sales," said Obata. "I'm pleased to be a part of this growing team and organization." Hired as the vice president of sales for Asia Pacific in October of 2003, Obata has been promoted to the vice president of worldwide sales.

"Ikanos continues to develop and deliver market-leading chipsets that enable carriers to provide the applications consumers are demanding," said Ghosh. "I look forward to helping Ikanos develop products that will improve and maintain our leadership position."

Ghosh was previously director of engineering at Brocade Communications Systems. Prior to Brocade, Ghosh held senior-level management positions at Force10 Networks, IoSpan Wireless, Glenayre Technologies, and Wireless Access.

Ikanos Communications Inc.

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