SoftAtHome appoints former Orange exec as new CEO

Smart home technology specialist SoftAtHome has appointed former Orange executive David Viret-Lange as its new CEO.

Viret-Lange, who joins after more than 20 years at Orange group, replaces previous chief executive Michel Degland, who left to become CEO of Orange Madagascar in November.

Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, president of the SoftAtHome board of directors, praised Viret-Lange’s in-depth knowledge of the telecoms industry and said that his hire “will be key to address the main challenges for SoftAtHome customers, such as improving value proposition in the digital home and maintaining highest level of quality.”

Viret-Lange said: “The digital home is full of other promising innovations that are still to be addressed to our operator customers. It is our role to help them in their transition.”

Before joining SoftAtHome he was most recently chief information officer at Orange Business Services and before that was head of product development.

DTVE speaks exclusively to David Viret-Lange about his plans for the company:

As CEO of SoftAtHome, do you plan to change the company’s direction at all, and in what way?

SoftAtHome has already a track record in the market with 30 million licenses sold, an innovative software solution and strong references. SoftAtHome’s strategy to clearly separate software and hardware for true virtualisation has been full of success so far. I would maintain this strategy and accelerate it. The ambition is to keep federating key operators around SoftAtHome technology, bring new ideas and solutions to simplify, enhance and improve their value proposition in the digital home. Of course, maintaining a high level of quality in the deliveries is key to satisfying our customers. Thanks to SoftAtHome’s great teams of experts, I am confident that we will continue to address the Digital Home challenges our customers are facing.

What learnings will you bring to the role from your time at Orange and Orange Business Services?

I spent several years within Orange group working on innovation, transformation and business development. This experience brought me an intimate knowledge of the way leading operators are thinking and working. Speaking the same language as our customers is a key asset. Moreover, my conviction is that we should bring more and more agility, to be able to collaborate in a truly integrated mode, sharing ambitions, challenges and teamwork.

What are your main goals for the year ahead?

SoftAtHome has now reached a position in the market and is facing a new phase. In 2017, we will accelerate our business development by working with new customers and addressing new markets. In 2017 more than ever, operators need our help and expertise in their innovation paths to face challenges such as IoT, virtualisation, the bandwidth race, security and immersive experiences. SoftAtHome is at their side.