Cabletron CEO Resigns; Successor Named

Cabletron Systems Inc. Chief Executive Craig Benson resigned from the No. 4 computer networking company and said Piyush Patel will succeed him. “I want what’s best for Cabletron in the long run, and I think he’s better able to lead the company,” Benson said in an interview. Patel, 43, a veteran of Intel Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., joined Cabletron in March 1998. Most recently he was senior vice president of engineering at Cabletron. Benson, 44, co-founded Cabletron in 1983 and was also its chairman and president. Rochester, N.H.-based Cabletron was a top maker of networking hubs that were the best-selling product for linking computers in corporate networks earlier this decade. However, it was late to market with newer technologies, hurting its sales and profit--and stock price--in the last two years. Patel said there would be “no major change” in the company’s strategy to shift into the telecommunications market. Cabletron shares gained 13 cents to close at $13.94 on the NYSE.