Siemens Enterprise Communications Appoints New CEO

"From a personal perspective, the opportunity to lead the ongoing success story of SEN Group, with its proud history of industry firsts, outstanding talent and leading market positions in many of its solutions and services is very exciting," Akhavan said in a statement. "We operate in a highly competitive market that is continually advancing, and I am committed to building significant value for the customers, shareholders and employees of SEN Group."

Akhavan comes to SEN following three years at Deutsche Telekom, where he was most recently chief operating officer of mobile communications. Before that, Akhavan served as CEO of T-Mobile International AG, and was chief technical officer and chief information officer at broadband and wireless access provider Teligent.

"We are delighted that such a respected and influential industry figure as Hamid Akhavan has chosen to join SEN Group as CEO," said Stone, who will resume his role as executive chairman at SEN, in a statement. "His customer focus and deep understanding of the rapidly evolving communications industry with its challenges and opportunities will enable us to further cement our position as a global leader in enterprise communications."

Akhavan joins Siemens at a crucial time, especially in the channel, where Siemens' SEN Group is launching a new channel program behind senior vice president of worldwide channels and alliances Denzil Samuels. As Samuels told Channelweb.com in a recent interview, SEN Group this year added indirect sales channels in 27 countries, part of what Samuels described as a channel makeover that starts "from the top."

SEN Group was formed in 2008 as a joint venture from Siemens AG and the Gores Group. That agreement also brought Enterasys to Siemens, and Enterasys is now the SEN Group's network infrastructrue and security division.