Argent Networks has appointed Frederick (Fred) M. Lax to its Board as a Non-Executive Director. Prior to joining Argent Networks, Fred served as President and CEO of Tekelec, formerly a California based telecommunications company that recently moved its corporate headquarters to North Carolina, and which is a leading developer of next-generation switching and signaling telecommunications solutions, network performance management technology, and value-added applications.

Chris Jones, CEO of Argent Networks says he is delighted that someone of Fred’s calibre and international experience has joined the Board. “Fred is a driven, natural thinker who is not afraid to challenge the status quo and actively seek growth and change. He has considerable knowledge of the telecommunications industry, which is ideal for Argent, and he will also bring the company his wider experience and extensive contacts with the global telecommunications industry. Fred’s skills will boost Argent Networks as it continues to expand and develop its business to the next level internationally,” says Jones.

As CEO, Frederick M. Lax provided leadership and guidance to Tekelec and oversaw the company as it broadened and diversified its telecommunications product portfolio, strengthened its competitive position and expanded its global presence in key markets world-wide, substantially increasing revenue and operational results. Under his leadership Tekelec also acquired several private companies, providing customers in the telecommunications industry with the company’s leading next generation technology solutions.

Fred Lax says that he is both excited and proud to join the Board of Argent Networks because it means that he can contribute and add real value to the growth of the company using his almost three decades of global experience. “Argent Networks has great leadership and vision combined with leading edge software solutions, services and technology, and so at this juncture it is in a prime position to go to the next level in its evolution as a global company. I look forward to being an active member of the Board, and working with the company and the Board to contribute insights and knowledge, to further expand Argent through securing significant global opportunities as well as opening up an ongoing stream of new ones. It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a growing technology business like Argent, and so I look forward to the journey ahead.”

With a 27 year career at Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Laboratories, Fred rose to become Vice President and General Manager of the Messaging Solutions Group, responsible for product marketing and management, R&D, customer services and support, and manufacturing.

Fred also has extensive experience in global telecommunications customer service and support as well as switching and operational support systems, having held positions as Lucent’s Vice President of Global Customer Support, Vice President of the Switch 2000 Product Realisation Centre and Director of the Switching Operations Systems Laboratory. As Vice President he led a team of several thousand people worldwide and achieved aggressive financial targets for the company’s global switching business. He also was instrumental in leading change management programmes resulting in improved responsiveness to customer needs through to major improvements in product on-time delivery performance as well as achieving unprecedented growth in the product portfolio investment and management functions of the business. During his extensive career in the global telecommunications industry Fred has also served on several boards including joint venture companies.

About Argent Networks
Argent Networks provides real-time mediation, rating, billing, revenue assurance and settlement solution software and customer care solutions for prepaid and postpaid voice, data and content. Argent also provides interconnect, wholesale, CABs and content settlement offerings using its latest IN>Bill® solution. Argent’s convergent billing solutions enable communications service providers to provision, rate and bill for 3G/2.5G and 2G mobile and provide value added services solutions including SMSC, MMS and VMS. Argent’s customers include the world’s largest communication providers, servicing and billing millions of subscribers in over 25 countries across the globe.