Ransom filled senior managerial positions at Alcatel. In his most recent position he served as its worldwide Chief Technology Officer as well as a member of Alcatel's Executive Committee. His responsibilities included managing corporate and product strategy, corporate research, R&D investments and M&A strategy. During Ransom's term at Alcatel, he took a leading role in forming its triple play strategy and oversaw a number of its successful acquisitions, including TiMetra, Spatial Communications, eDial, PacketVideo and Native Networks. In previous positions with Alcatel, which he joined in 1997, Ransom held several general management roles, including managing the access and metro optical business in the US.
Prior to Alcatel, Dr. Ransom served as Senior Director for the Advanced Technology Systems Engineering Center of BellSouth, responsible for expanding its offerings into PCS wireless, IP, video entertainment, and advanced intelligent networks. He started his career at Bell Labs.
Dr. Ransom currently serves on the board of Teknovus, a semiconductor provider of EPON solutions, and Overture Networks, a developer of converged packet access platforms. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, BSEE and MSEE degrees from Old Dominion University and an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago. He is the co-author of the book "Broadband Access Technologies", published in 1999 by McGraw-Hill.
Shlomo Dovrat, Chairman of the Board of ECI Telecom, said, "Niel Ransom is an outstanding addition to ECI's strong and unique Board of Directors. His experience and expertise in telecom strategy, technology and M&A, make him uniquely qualified to contribute to ECI, which is emerging as one of the world leaders in advanced and innovative triple play solutions. Niel joins a Board which already includes recognized telecom industry experts, formerly from Deutsche Telekom, BT and Cisco as well as a Hutchison Board member who is also Chairman of the GSM Association," concluded Dovrat.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Ransom said: "I am excited to join such a distinguished Board of Directors and to work closely with ECI's management, led by CEO Rafi Maor. I have been watching ECI closely in the last few years, as it has become one of the leading edge and innovative companies in the telecom equipment sector. ECI has demonstrated strategic vision and responsiveness to its customers. It is an early leader in IPTV and very well positioned to help telecom carriers worldwide to begin deploying next-generation IP networks. I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute towards the company's continued growth and success."
About ECI Telecom
ECI provides advanced telecommunications solutions to leading carriers and service providers worldwide. By translating a deep understanding of their needs into innovative, technologically advanced solutions, ECI enables its customers to increase the value of the infrastructure of their networks and reduce operating expenses. ECI's platforms provide carriers and service providers with carrier-grade solutions for easily introducing new revenue-generating services.
ECI provides innovative IP service delivery solutions to the converged telecom networks encompassing Broadband access gateways, Service Edge Routers, Optical transport, NGN VoIP and multimedia applications and services. ECI maintains a global sales, marketing and customer support network, as well as a host of strategic channel relationships worldwide.
Certain statements contained in this release may contain forward-looking information with respect to plans, projections or future performance of the Company. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, product and market acceptance risks, the impact of competitive pricing, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.