SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) today announced that chairman and chief executive officer Jagdeep Singh plans to step down as CEO on January 1, 2010 and become executive chairman of the company and that chief operating officer Tom Fallon will succeed Singh as President and CEO at that time.

Singh, 42, one of the three founders of Infinera, will remain actively involved with the company, working with Fallon and the executive team on product strategy and long-term direction of the company. “After nine very satisfying years at the helm of Infinera, it is time to pass the baton of leadership for the day to day operations of the company,” said Singh. “I look forward to continuing to work with Tom and other members of the team as we continue to capitalize on our unique opportunity to disrupt the optical transport industry and further strengthen our leadership position.

“As an experienced operations executive, Tom has an exceptional background for the CEO role,” said Singh. “He spent many years in management at Cisco, including his role as VP and GM of Cisco’s optical business unit. He is one of the veterans of the Infinera management team, having joined us early in our development, and has led an increasingly broad set of functional groups at our company over the years. I‘d like to congratulate Tom and I look forward to working with him on his transition into the CEO role over the next six months.”

Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN)