Ibrix Redraws Org Chart

Clustering specialist Ibrix has made a slew of management changes in the last few weeks, appointing a new CEO and a raft of other execs. (See Ibrix Intros Storage Offering and Ibrix Joins EMC Select.)

Former Sun exec Bernard Gilbert took over the reins of the company from Shaji John last month, with the outgoing CEO remaining as chairman of the Ibrix board.

"He's still involved with the company, but he has decided to focus more of his energies at the board level as opposed to the operational level," says Gilbert, explaining that the switch was prompted by John himself. "He decided that a different skill set was needed."

In an email to Byte and Switch today, John wrote that Gilbert was appointed to take Ibrix "to its next level of growth" by boosting its channel presence and expanding the number of markets the vendor works in.

During his time at Sun, Gilbert worked in the firm's Network Storage Division, where he oversaw mergers and acquisitions, as well as the vendor's storage management offerings. The exec was also CEO of engineering services firm Zaiq Technologies, which merged with Patni Computer Systems last year.The CEO handover was just one of a number of changes to the Ibrix management roster, which also saw Ed Callahan replace Bill Norberg as vice president of worldwide sales. "He's pursuing his own personal interests," says Gilbert, adding that Norberg took the decision to move on.

Another high level exec leaving the firm was COO Michael Malone. "With me coming in here, we felt that there was no need for a COO [because] I have that experience, so Mike left," says Gilbert.

Ibrix marketing VP Joe DeRosa also jumped the train out of the firm, leaving "to pursue other interests" earlier this year. This week, the startup appointed his successor, promoting former product marketing director Milan Shetti to vice president of marketing and business development.

The new CEO denies the suggestion that all this upheaval reflects an undercurrent of trouble at the firm. "I don't believe that it is a revolving door," he says. "John and the board took the decision that it was time to move the company forward and get into execution mode."

Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Steve Duplessie believes Ibrix's changes have more to do with future strategy. "It's not that they are in trouble," he says, pointing to users such as Pixar and Disney that use the Ibrix kit. (See Disney, Pixar, and Ibrix Touts Media Sector Growth.) "They have got some good customers and big implementations."Ibrix is nonetheless up against some stiff competitors in the clustered NAS space, where vendors such as NetApp and Isilon are jostling furiously for position. (See Isilon's Counting on Clusters.) The level of one-upmanship was evident earlier this year, when Isilon accused NetApp and Ibrix's reseller partner EMC of failing to make inroads into clustered NAS, prompting an angry reaction from NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven and further stoking the competitive fires. (See NetApp Stokes Competitive Fires, Isilon's Counting on Clusters, NetApp's GX Targets HPC, and Ibrix Joins EMC Select.)

Compounding this situation, recent months have proved a lean spell for vendors in this corner of the storage market, marked by a slowdown in enterprise spending. (See NetApp Announces Q4 Results, Storage Spending Knocks NetApp, and Isilon: The Honeymoon's Over.)

Although Ibrix's Gilbert would not reveal his firm's recent revenues, he says that the vendor now has more than 100 customers. "I expect to be cash flow positive around the end of this year, and profitable around the third quarter of next year."

To achieve this, Ibrix is looking in the future to break out of its traditional niches in media and entertainment and start selling its clustering technologies in new markets such as financial services and pharmaceuticals.

To support this push, the vendor is planning to grow its 100-strong workforce to somewhere between 130 and 150 by this time next year. "We're actively hiring in all functional areas," says Gilbert, adding that the firm's "next big product announcement" is scheduled for later this year.Less likely is a top-up for Ibrix's $48 million of funding anytime soon. "We're well funded, we have plenty of money in the bank," says Gilbert.

Ibrix's primary investor is JT Ventures, where chairman Shaji John is managing partner.

Some key Ibrix execs, including Brad Winett, the firm's vice president of alliances, and CTO Sudhir Srinivasan, avoided the recent management merry-go-round. "One position that clearly has not changed is the CTO position, where Sudhir, was, is, and will be, the lead technologist for the company," says Gilbert.

James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch