Executive changes coming again at Li-Fi firm Oledcomm

When Li-Fi firm Oledcomm issued a press release earlier this month saying it had doubled its system speed, the announcement included a quote from company executive Benjamin Azoulay stating the importance the advance will have in supporting data communications between devices.

“The dizzying growth in the amount of data collected in mobility situations and the increase in multimedia flows require a reliable and uninterrupted communication standard for all, especially in transport and factory 4.0,” Azoulay pointed out.

It’s hard to argue with that. Oledcomm wants to outfit things like trains and the transportation infrastructure with infrared transceivers that will enhance communication between them. The French company wants to do the same with factory floor robots and other internet-connected equipment. As those operations become more data intensive, the doubling of speed from Oledcomm’s current 1 Gbps to the upcoming 2 Gbps should help.

So the “faster” and “better” aspect of the announcement rang true.

But one curiosity stood out. Oledcomm referred to Azoulay as “Oledcomm president.” Industry observers will know that four months ago, the company established a new double-headed leadership structure, in which Azoulay became “co-CEO,” along with Pierre-Jean Beylier, an Oledcomm board member. Both bosses spoke with LEDs Magazine a few weeks afterwards about plans for both lasers and LEDs in the product roadmap.

Any Oledcomm watcher would have expected the announcement this month of the LiFiMAX2G this month to refer to him by his new designation, even if he still carries the title of president.

So LEDs Magazine sent an email to Vélizy-Villacoublay–based Oledcomm, asking whether the co-CEO structure is still in place. Albeit not unheard of, a “co-CEO” office is an unusual corporate set-up. It’s an arrangement that could conceivably not last; all the more reason why we asked, given the absence of the title in the press release.

Our instincts seemed to be correct. To paraphrase the response that a spokesperson sent back: Watch this space.

“The co-CEO structure is still in place,” the spokesperson said. She explained that Azoulay “was quoted in his capacity as president and head of R&D.”

However, she added, “Like any organizational structure, the co-CEO structure is subject to change and adjustments in coming weeks and months.”

To make sure we weren’t misconstruing things among technology talk and language differences, we asked whether changes are coming in the co-CEO structure.

“Yes,” was the answer.

We don’t know what those changes will be or why they are happening. But with apologies for repeating ourselves: Watch this space.

MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).

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