Open-Xchange Names New CEO and CTO
TARRYTOWN, NY, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Open-Xchange Inc., the leading provider of open source collaboration software, today named Gerald Labie as the company's new CEO. The company also announced the appointment of Jurgen Geck to the position of CTO. The moves provide Open-Xchange with a seasoned management team to lead the company through a period of rapid growth. Former CEO Frank Hoberg, who co-founded the company and grew it successfully in two years at the helm, will work with Labie and Geck as General Manager of the company's European operations, where he will oversee sales and marketing in the company's core market. Labie brings more than 20 years of diversified executive management experience in the information technology industry to Open-Xchange. He most recently served as President and CEO of CXO Systems, a provider of operational intelligence software. Previously, Labie was President and COO of Novadigm a publicly traded software configuration management vendor. Labie will be based in the U.S., a first for the company, strengthening its focus on the fast- growing U.S. market. "The growth we are seeing indicates that Open-Xchange is quickly becoming the open source alternative to expensive and inflexible proprietary systems," said Rafael Laguna, Chairman Open-Xchange. "The addition of these executives adds the experience Open-Xchange needs to rapidly scale the company to capitalize on the growth potential in the SMB market accelerated by SaaS." Open-Xchange recently announced a partnership with 1&1 Internet, Inc., to offer Open-Xchange's collaboration software as a service. The deal represents the largest open source customer win in the industry. To-date, more than 2,000 companies in 65 countries have deployed Open-Xchange Server. The company has also recruited more than 500 value-added resellers in 60 countries. "Open-Xchange's vision is to bring new levels of productivity to the underserved SMB market through product leadership, SaaS with hosters and continuing to work with our channel partners and the community," said Labie. As CTO, Geck will be responsible for continued development and communication of the company's technology strategies. He brings a distinguished background in open source and technology management to Open-Xchange. "Our smart collaboration architecture based on open standards enables us to not only offer it as a service, but to integrate other offerings into a dynamic collaboration platform aimed at improving the information user experience," said Geck. "We are now able to deliver to the market a more flexible, open and affordable alternative to expensive proprietary solutions." Geck most recently spent 10 years with SUSE Linux as Vice President Technology Partners and later CTO. During his tenure with SUSE Linux, he built strong alliances with AMD, Fujitsu-Siemens-Computers, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Oracle and SAP and introduced SUSE's Technology Partner Program to provide a scalable offering for all SUSE partners. Geck was instrumental in designing SUSE's flagship product, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Geck is also one of the founders of Eclipse.org. About Open-Xchange Inc. Open-Xchange Inc. is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source email and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. Open-Xchange enables web-hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered using Software as a Service (SaaS). Internet service providers (ISPs) and hosting providers, led by 1&1 Internet, deliver advanced email and groupware features through Open- Xchange to millions of users. Open-Xchange Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Tarrytown, NY, with research, development, and operations in Olpe and Nuremberg, Germany. For more information, please visit http://www.open-xchange.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Mike Maney Page One Public Relations for Open-Xchange +1.215.345.0796 |
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