Gerald Wesel, the onetime CEO of DPI pioneer Ellacoya Networks, has become the new CEO of Polatis Networks, according to the optical equipment vendor’s Website.

Polatis was one of many optical switch startups born amid the exuberant fiber backbone buildouts of the turn-of-the-century telecom bubble. Last year it introduced a wavelength-selective switch for core and metro DWDM. And its fast piezoelectrics switch caught Verizon’s eye last year as a possible way to automate central-office fiber patch panels.

Wesel’s last outfit, Ellacoya, was acquired by Arbor Networks last year.

Wesel also co-founded Cresent Networks, an edge routing vendor that went out of business in 2003, citing an “adverse market environment and lack of additional funding.”