News Briefs

Telecom industry veteran Howard Janzen is taking over as CEO of One Communications. Janzen replaces Thomas Casey, who served as CEO after CTC Communications and Choice One Communications merged last year. Janzen also will sit on the board of directors. He most recently was president of Sprint Business Solutions, where he oversaw Sprints worldwide business customer base. Before that, he served as president of the Sprint Global Markets Group, responsible for its long-distance business. He also was chairman, president and CEO of Williams Communications Group, where he helped the company complete the buildout of its fiber network.

McLeodUSA Inc. on March 22 filed to sell stock worth up to $172.5 million. The company deregistered from the Nasdaq about a year ago, after its second bankruptcy. Now it proposes to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the new ticker symbol MUSA. The previous symbol was MCLD. McLeodUSA emerged from bankruptcy in January 2006, with a new CEO (telecom vet Royce Holland), board of directors and equity ownership. The carrier intends to use some of the proceeds from the IPO to pay off debt, expand its IP platform and possibly to fund M&A.

Shared Technologies Inc. has acquired the majority of security virtualization software provider layerX Technologies LLCs assets for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition results in a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary of Shared Technologies, STI LayerX Inc. The subsidiary will partner with Shared Technologies to deliver converged security platforms and provide enterprise security management and virtualization solutions for enterprises and managed security service providers.

PAETEC Holding Corp. has named A. John Leach Jr. as senior vice president, alternate channels. Leach is based in Charlotte, N.C., and is responsible for PAETECs authorized agent sales channel program in the companys South, South Central and Mid-Atlantic regions. Leach has more than 20 years of telecommunications and sales experience and most recently was president and CEO of Covista Communications. He also has worked for BellSouth, BTI Communications and Telco Communications Group.

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) began offering its CompTIA Convergence+ certification March 30. CompTIA Convergence+ certification validates an information technology professionals knowledge and skill in the area of communications technologies where data, voice, video and broadcast multimedia technologies are combined in a single IP-based delivery system. The test is multiple-choice and is taken on a computer in a proctored environment. Guides can be ordered through the CompTIA Online Store.