Blue Sky Research, a privately held developer and manufacturer of optical network components, announced that director of product engineering Daniel Chu has been promoted to vice president of product line management. Since joining the company in 1998, Chu has played a major role in the design and manufacture of Blue Sky's flagship Programmable ITU Laser technology. In his new role, Chu will continue to lead the development of the programmable laser, as well as two additional Blue Sky product lines, the EDFA pump module and free-space laser source. VPIsystems, the developer of technical knowledge management systems for next generation products and networks, announced that Cas Skrzypczak has joined its board of directors. Skrzypczak brings 34 years of experience in business and network planning to VPI. His distinguished career includes CTO at Nynex, group vice president of the professional services division at Telcordia, and senior vice president at Cisco, where he was responsible for worldwide deployment of all service provider products.