Former 3Com President Nabs Top Job At Smart Grid Specialist

"After an extensive search, we are delighted to have attracted someone with the depth and breadth of experience as Ron," said M. Kenneth Oshman, executive chairman of Echelon's board of directors, in a statement. "Along with his proven leadership strengths, Ron brings the keen insight, excitement and energy necessary to guide Echelon into the next phase of growth."

Echelon is based in San Diego, and among its key product lines are the NES System, a family of advanced metering infrastructure products sold through the channel, and LonWorks Infrastructure, a standards-based (ISO/IEC, ANSI, IP) line of microprocessors, smart transceivers and other control network tools sold primarily to OEMs.

Before taking over one of 3Com's top jobs, Sege was president and CEO of Tropos Networks from 2004 to 2008, and held various C-suite and EVP-level jobs at Ellacoya Networks, Lycos, and, during the 1990s, his first stint at 3Com.

Sege rejoined 3Com in 2008 as president and COO, in charge of all of the company's day-to-day operations outside of China. He remained with the networking stalwart through its acquisition by HP, telling CRN in a November 2009 interview with CRN that the HP buy was a good thing for the channel.

At Echelon, he will succeed Robert R. Maxfield, who had served as CEO since November 2009 following former CEO Oshman's diagnosis of lung cancer. According to the statement, both Oshman and Maxfield will continue on Echelon's board of directors.

"I am very excited to join Echelon at this important moment in history," said Sege in the statement. "Governments, businesses and consumers around the world must become more energy efficient and this requires smarter energy grids, smarter buildings, and smarter environments."

Sege was not available Thursday for additional comment.

"I will focus on accelerating global market penetration for our solutions and driving operational excellence throughout the company," he added in the statement. "Our time is now and we have tremendous opportunity ahead of us."