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Open-Xchange gets new CEO, CTO

Open-source rival to Microsoft Exchange names Gerald Labie its new top exec and hires former top techie for Novell's Suse Linux.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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Stephen Shankland
Open-Xchange, an open-source software company angling to cut into the Microsoft Exchange market, plans to announce two new top executives on Monday.

Gerald Labie, who had been chief executive of CXO Systems and chief operating officer of Novadigm, now is Open-Xchange's CEO. He replaces co-founder Frank Hoberg, who now is general manager of European operations.

Labie will be the first Open-Xchange CEO based in the United States; Hoberg was based in Germany.

In addition, the company announced it hired as chief technology officer Juergen Geck, who had been CTO of Novell's Suse Linux software but left one year ago.

Open-Xchange's server software handles e-mail, contacts and calendars. The company sells it both to companies that use it on their own and to Internet service providers such as 1&1 Internet that offer it to their customers as service.