Irfan Ali has joined equipment vendor Lambda Optical Systems as its new president and chief executive officer.

Ali was formerly president of CommWorks, a 3Com subsidiary. Prior to that, he was vice president of marketing for 3Com’s carrier networks business unit. He also worked for Newbridge Networks, an equipment vendor acquired by Alcatel in 2000, and Nortel Networks.

Ali is also a founder of the ATM Forum.

Lambda Optical uses microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) to build all-optical switches for metro and regional networks. It also sells a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) and a remote-access device.

Founded in 2003 from the intellectual property of folded start-up Firstwave Secure Intelligent Optical Networks, Lambda Optical announced a $14-million series-B funding round in April, bringing the company’s total funding to $24 million.

As Lambda Optical’s first true CEO, Ali replaced the company’s acting CEO, Amra Tareen, who is a partner in Sevin Rosen Funds, one of the start-up’s investors.