METRO-OPTIX BRINGS ORR HOME

David Orr, who spent six years in Richardson, Texas, as CEO of Alcatel USA in the mid-1990s, has returned to the area as the new CEO of Metro-Optix, a metro-optical vendor that hopes Orr's big carrier relationships will translate into profits.

Orr's hiring should not cause much disruption at Metro-Optix as he replaces company founder and longtime colleague Arun Bellary, who worked with Orr almost 20 years ago at Rockwell International before Alcatel acquired it in 1991.

Bellary was commuting to Metro-Optix from his home in Calgary, Alberta, and wanted to withdraw from daily operations for personal reasons, Orr said. Orr began talking with Bellary about joining Metro-Optix last June.

“I have relationships with about a third of the people at the company because there are a lot of former Alcatel people there,” said Orr, who made his first public appearance in a Metro-Optix uniform last week at the Supernet trade show in Santa Clara.

Because of these close ties, Orr said employees will have an immediate comfort level with him that he will extend to prospective employees.

Orr plans to maintain Metro-Optix's strategy to sell metro-optical platforms to large carrier customers, leveraging some of his Bell company relationships. “This is not a situation where Metro-Optix was executing poorly and needed a new game plan,” Orr said. “However, you can always improve on what exists.”

Orr's big carrier relationships couldn't save the last company where he was CEO — Durham, N.C.-based Pliant Systems. The broadband transport equipment provider filed for bankruptcy last summer and later was liquidated. Still, Pliant had several consecutive years of losses before Orr arrived.

“I learned lessons from Pliant about how important financial structure is and having quality investors who continue to support you,” Orr said. “Metro-Optix has those things.”