M. Niel Ransom
400 Wellspring Farms+1 919-757-2940
Rolesville,

Visionary leader with proven ability to drive the creation and deployment of advanced technologies from both equipment provider and network operator sides of the businesswith deep experience in both U.S. and international markets.

  • Demonstrated successin managing and driving business growth and profits.
  • Proven success in building strong partnerships with both telecom network operators and equipment manufacturers.
  • Significant experience in mergers and acquisitions of both startups and large enterprises.
  • Broad knowledge of emerging communication technologies and ability to anticipate emerging technology and telecommunications market trends. Holder of five patents in advanced telecommunications technologies.
  • Adept at working with and influencing government regulatory bodies.
Ransomshire Associates, Inc.(2005 – present)
President

Support of Venture Capital and early-stage companies in achieving business growth and successful exits.

  • Board director of AMCC (NASDAQ: AMCC), ECI Telecom (NASDAQ: ECIL) and VC-based Overture Networks (Ethernet access) and Teknovus (chipsets of triple-play fiber to the home)
  • Investment due diligence for GIMV (Belgium-based VC), Pond Venture Partners, and Giza Venture Capital (Israel-based VC). Board of advisors to Focus Ventures.
  • Corporate strategy consulting for Actelis (broadband over multi-pair copper), ANDevices (Photonic Devices), BigBand Networks (Advanced Video Services), Ellacoya (deep packet inspection), Empirix (VoIP test & measurement), NetD (branch routers), Ruckus Wireless (wireless home networks), Sarnoff (video technology),Solomio (mobile applications acquired by Openwave)andTropic Networks (ROADM systems).
  • Expert witness in patent infringement litigation.
Alcatel (1997 – June, 2005)
Chief Technology Officer (2002 – 2005)

$13 billion telecommunications solutions supplier of fixed, mobile and enterprise products. Direct report to the Chairman and member of governing Excom of the company.Direct managementof central functions of around 1100 people encompassing corporate and product strategy, corporate research, R&D investment, M&A strategy, venture investments, and intellectual property.

  • Product strategy resulted in Alcatel achieving #1 position worldwide in wireline access, optical networks, contact center solutions, IP-PBX, and telecommunications satellites, and achieving #2 position in edge routers. Wireless market share grew roughly 2 percent per year to 15.8 percent of the GSM market in 2004. Major 3G wins in Orange and other carriers. Industry-leading applications, particularly in video, achieving strong revenue growth in wireless and wireline networks.
  • M&A achievements included the acquisition of TiMetra, Spatial Wireless, eDial, PacketVideo, Thirdspace, iMagicTV, Right Vision, Telera, Aravox, WaterCove, and Native Networks.
  • Directed Alcatel 700-person research organization with centers in France, U.S., Canada, Belgium, and Germany. Established research center inShanghai, China. Strong record of industry firsts and successful transfer of technology into product development.
  • Created low-cost development centers in India, China and Eastern Europeaccounting for approximately 30 percent of Alcatel R&D headcount.
  • Achieved 700 new patent families per year generating approximately $60 million annually in patent license revenues.
Chief Technology Officer – Alcatel Americas(2000 – 2001)

Head of Alcatel technical activities in United States, Canada and Latin America dual reporting to President of Alcatel America and Alcatel worldwide CTO.

  • Developed strategic relationships with major carriers in the Americas.
  • Grew dominate market position in DSL and multi-service access.
  • Oversaw acquisition and integration of Newbridge Networks.
  • Appointed member of FCC Technological Advisory Council. Presented seminars to FCC on Voice-over-Packet and Fiber-to-the-Home.
  • Presented testimony at FCC and state regulatory hearings. Testified as expert witness in several state regulatory trials.
Vice President, Strategic Planning, Vice President & General Manager, Advanced Systems(1998 - 1999)

Head of business unit focused on achieving market leadership in emerging broadband access areas including development of Fiber-to-the-Premises product.

  • Performed due diligence and developed and implemented business strategy for post-merger integration of DSC into Alcatel.
  • Performed due diligence on acquisition of Xylan, Assured Access, Packet Engines, Internet Devices.
Vice President and General Manager, Local Networks(1997 - 1998)

General management of Alcatel’s Access and Metro Optical business in North America.P&L responsibility and management of 400-person business unit encompassing product management, R&D, marketing, fulfillment, and customer support.

  • Grew business from $200M in sales in 1997 to over $300M in 1998.
  • Achieved dominate position in ADSL in the U.S.
  • Achieved ADSL win in BellCanada.

BellSouth (1988 - 1997)

Senior Director, Advanced Technology

Managed BellSouth’sAdvancedTechnologyCentertasked withexpanding BellSouth’s service offerings into PCS wireless, IP, video, and advanced intelligent networks. Responsible for business plans, market evaluation, development of specifications, standards representation, prototyping, product development, issuance of RFPs, product evaluation, vendor selection, and support of rollout of advanced network services.

  • Accomplishments included the successful rollout of BellSouth’s Native Mode LAN Interconnection service, ATM and Frame Relay network services, Advanced Intelligent Network services, North Carolina Information Highway, and BellSouth.net (BellSouth’s Internet access service), wireless PCS, and broadband entertainment services.
  • Led the ADSL Joint Procurement Consortium technical group of four RBOCs that isconsidered the key trigger that led to the worldwide mass development of DSL. Achieved joint specifications, jointly issued RFP and joint selection of vendor for ADSL equipment.
  • Oversight andfunding of Bellcore Applied Research activities, conducted joint research with universities and vendor laboratories in advanced technologies, and conducted collaborative research with vendor R&D laboratories. Won significant government collaborative research projects including the VISTAnet gigabit network (ARPA and NSF) and the MONET WDM optical network project (ARPA and DoD).

Bell Telephone Laboratories(1973 - 1988)

Technical Manager, Exploratory Development

Member of and eventually managed an applied research organization that gave birth to a number of highly successful products in data and voice switching

  • Developed the overall architecture of the 5ESS system including several of its fundamental underlying patents
  • Managed team responsible for advanced features for the 1A VSS (first network-based voice mail system)
  • Developed requirements and constructed prototypes of Frame Relay and ATM switching systems that became the basis of subsequent Lucent data switching products.
  • Managed development organization responsible for system design and software development of the Local Access and Data Transport system, a videotext home information system. This system was deployed in Florida in a joint venture with Knight-Ridder Corporation.
  • Represented the United States in the CCITT standards organization for Broadband ISDN and was one of the key experts behind the creation of ATM. Performed Systems Engineering and protocol specifications of North American common channel signaling network.
Education

1986 – MBA, Univ. of Chicago (Executive Program)

1973 – Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Notre Dame

1971 – MS Electrical Engineering, OldDominionUniversity

1970 – BS Electrical Engineering, OldDominionUniversity

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