Telecommunications industry veteran Stephen Brewer has been formally appointed chairman of Velona Systems, an Enterprise Ireland-backed company that provides security software for internet telephony.

Mr Brewer, a former Digicel executive who first made his name in the Irish market running Eircell, the State-owned precursor to Vodafone Ireland, had been an EI mentor to Velona and has helped it raise €750,000 in seed funding, the company said.

EI said it is “delighted” that he has now taken on a more “formal” role with the business, which is headquartered in Cork.

Recent filings show Velona recently raised cash from a handful of private investors, such as Hong Kong-based 465 Holdings, as well as a further injection of €150,000 from EI. Shares were also recently allocated to Mr Brewer and some of the company’s other directors.

Velona supplies technology to make Voip (voice over internet protocol) calls more secure. It was established by John Daly and Tony Friar, who previously founded Talking Sense Networks, which was since acquired by Artilium.