ADVA announced that Brian Protiva is to step down as CEO. After a transition period of several weeks, Protiva will assume the role of vice chairman of Acorn HoldCo Inc. (the holding company of Adtran and ADVA). Christoph Glingener will be appointed ADVA's new CEO and will also continue as the company's CTO.

During Protiva's 25-year tenure as chief executive officer, he successfully steered the company from a small start-up to an industry leader in metro WDM and Ethernet access devices. As ADVA is about to complete its business combination with Adtran, Protiva will support the further unification of the companies over the coming months. Protiva will be succeeded by ADVA's long-serving CTO, Christoph Glingener.

For 15 years, Glingener has molded the company's technology roadmap, introducing a number of industry-defining products that are now being used by service providers and enterprises across the globe. As CEO, Glingener will continue to support ADVA's business combination with Adtran while maintaining his current work as CTO. Glingener will assume the role of CEO after a transition period of several weeks with the full support of the company's supervisory board.