Siemens Enterprise Communications, the new joint venture between The Gores Group and Siemens AG, has named James O'Neill, a 30-year technology industry veteran, as its CEO.

O'Neill, 54, is a native of Ireland who became an American citizen in 1976. He most recently served as CEO of CompuDyne, a provider of products and services to the public security market.

CompuDyne is also owned by Gores, which acquired a 51% stake in Siemens Enterprise Communications in a $550 million deal announced on Sept. 30.

Gores plans to combine Siemens Enterprise Communications with its Enterasys and SER Solutions companies. O'Neill's priorities will include merging these three holdings into a multibillion dollar global supplier of enterprise VoIP, wireless LAN, Ethernet switching and call center products.

Prior to joining CompuDyne, O'Neill served four years as president of Northrop Grumman's $4.5 billion Information Technology sector, a provider of IT engineering and business solutions for government. Previously, he served as president of the sector's Computing Systems business, a value-added reseller of networking, enterprise computing, security and storage products and services.

Before joining Northrop Grumman in 2002, O'Neill held a variety of industry positions, including roles as senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Services Industries, where he led the company's sales and consulting groups in the worldwide communications and utilities sectors. He also served as president of the Government Solutions business unit at Lucent Technologies, and vice president and general manager of Digital Equipment Corporation's Federal Government Region, where he managed Digital's government business worldwide.