New tech czar headed for AOL Time Warner

A former chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment has been appointed to lead an effort to coordinate technology efforts across AOL Time Warner, a source familiar with the company said.

Olaf Olafsson, a novelist, playwright and former vice chairman of Time Warner Digital Media, will take the role of executive vice president for technology and will serve on a newly "reconstituted" committee aimed at examining technology use across the corporate giant, the source said.

Former Chief Technology Officer Bill Raduchel is no longer with the company.

Since the merger of America Online and Time Warner, the company has made periodic efforts to standardize technology practices across its sprawling corporate domains, with mixed success.

A year ago, for example, an effort to push staffers to use an AOL-produced e-mail client failed after complaints from employees, and the corporate office agreed to let the company's different divisions use outside technology.

Details were not immediately available on what Olafsson's goals will be or what the specific focus of the renewed technology committee may be.

In other executive changes, AOL Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons will replace outgoing Chairman Steve Case at the helm of the AOL Time Warner Foundation, the source said.