Operax, a leading vendor of Network Service Quality control solutions, has recently appointed Richard Lowe as CEO and Jay Borden to its Board of Directors. These new appointments will further enhance the commercial leadership of Operax and support further growth in its global markets.

Richard Lowe appointed Operax CEO
Richard Lowe has more than 25 years general management experience in the technology industry and will be responsible for leading the further commercial growth of Operax. Richard’s extensive background includes roles as Senior Vice President of Micromuse where he delivered strong growth in the Wireline and Wireless service provider markets and the defense sector. He joined Micromuse in 2001, leading the business in Europe, Middle East and Africa over the last 6 years, including 12 months following acquisition by IBM.

Previously, Richard was President, EMEA, of US-based B2B eProcurement software company the Rightworks Corporation, where he established their presence in EMEA. Richard has held positions at a number of enterprise and financial software companies, building strong relationships with telecommunications companies and service providers. These include senior commercial roles with Tivoli Systems Inc., part of the IBM Corporation, and Rank Xerox Systems. At Tivoli, Richard was responsible for the European Sales force including the pan-European vertical sector teams covering the finance, manufacturing, retail and government sectors.

Richard succeeds Anders Lindén who led Operax for more than 4 years from pre-commercial development, through first customer wins, and further major rounds of venture funding. “I am very proud of what Operax has achieved in recent years,” says Anders, “and I am confident that Richard will be very successful in leading Operax to further commercial success.” Anders will be departing to pursue other interests in early-stage technology companies.

“I am looking forward to the successes to come in my new role,” says Richard. “The dramatic rise in demand for new IP-based services has created new challenges for Service Providers. In particular, the impact this has had on ensuring the bandwidth necessary for a high-quality user experience. Not only has Operax succeeded in developing unique and patented dynamic Bandwidth Management products that help solve these problems, it has also succeeded in closing commercial contracts in the defense and telecoms markets – this gives Operax a solid platform to build upon, directly and with our partners.”

Jay Borden appointed to Operax Board of Directors. John (Jay) Borden brings significant commercial and industry expertise to the Operax Board team – where he succeeds John Masters as the representative of Nomura International.

“I believe Operax demonstrates strong potential for further growth based on technical innovation and its key role in the development of industry standards for QoS Control and Bandwidth Management,” says Jay. “Operax products solve major commercial and technical challenges as leading carriers seek to efficiently deploy profitable new pre-IMS and IMS-based services such as VoD, VoIP and IPTV across their networks.”

Jay was founder and CEO of telecom software company Granite Systems from its inception in 1993 through its successful sale to SAIC and merger with Telcordia in 2004. Granite was named four times to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies, and Jay was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 in the New England software category and New Hampshire High Tech Council Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000. Prior to founding Granite, Jay was at Digital Equipment Corporation in Sophia Antipolis, France and Littleton, MA, where he was responsible for the telecom network management software business. Jay began his career at the analysts Yankee Group in Boston and later London, where he was a research director and responsible for starting the Euroscope research program. Jay holds a B.A. in Romance Languages, Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University.

“With the appointments of Richard and Jay, Operax is in a very strong position for future growth,” says Laurence McDonald, Chairman of the Operax Board and General Partner of Nordic Venture Partners. “With their experience and insight, as well as the recent appointment of Jeremy Deaner as General Manager for our European and Asian markets, Operax will continue to develop winning propositions for our telecoms and defense customers. I would also like to thank Anders for his outstanding contribution in building Operax to the company it is today and establishing the platform for further success.”

Throughout the world region telecommunications operators are seeking to maximize their Returns on Investment in Next-Generation Networks. In converged broadband networks, providing guaranteed Quality of Service is a cornerstone capability, and essential for the successful commercial deployment and operation of new solutions, such as IPTV and IMS-based services. For carriers seeking these capabilities today, Operax provides flexible Bandwidth Management solutions for real-time, end-to-end QoS Control.

About Operax
Operax provides carrier grade solutions for QoS Control in Multi-Service Networks where resource and policy based admission control (RACS) is required. The Operax Bandwidth Manager is ETSI-TISPAN and ITU-T compliant and ensures end-to-end transport QoS for any IP service or application. Operax solutions give service providers and network operators the ability to introduce new services rapidly and to realize new revenue streams, reduce capital expenditures and increase operational efficiency.

Founded in 2000, Operax is a privately held company with headquarters in Stockholm and offices in Lule̴ РSweden, London, Rome, Seoul and Washington DC. The company is owned by Nordic Venture Partners, Innovacom, Nomura and Emano, along with its founders. For more information, please visit www.operax.com