NetApp Shuffles Management Pack

With clouds of economic uncertainty gathering over the storage market, NetApp has shuffled its management pack, creating two new positions for existing execs.

Tom Georgens, previously NetApp's VP of product operations, will be COO and president, and former president Tom Mendoza is now vice chairman.

Former Engenio CEO Georgens steps into the newly created COO/president role at a time when Netapp is looking to ramp up efforts in a range of product areas, including de-duplication and virtualization. NetApp's also planning to merge the different versions of its OnTap software.

Georgens, who spent 11 years at EMC earlier in his career, spent more than two years heading up NetApp's product operations. He is credited with overseeing the largest rollout of products in the vendor's history. Now, as COO and president, he will oversee NetApp's product and field operations at a crucial time for the company, which has been identified as being particularly vulnerable to an IT spending slowdown.

He'll face tough challenges. NetApp, for example, is looking to improve both its NAS and SAN management following its recent acquisition of SRM specialist Onaro for a rumored $120 million.With the Onaro deal closing yesterday, Georgens will be working to integrate the SRM vendor's technology into NetApp's Storage Management and Integration Software division.

NetApp is also embroiled in a patent infringement lawsuit with Sun, to the dismay of users.

NetApp's previous president, Tom Mendoza, now becomes company vice chairman, where he will be responsible for interacting with customers and garnering feedback for future product development. In the newly created role, the 14-year NetApp veteran will also be expected to lead a workforce that's increasingly diverse geographically and culturally.

"Freeing Mendoza from operational responsibilities to focus his energy on our customers and culture will help us become even more responsive to the market," said NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven.

Both Mendoza and Georgens will continue to report directly to Warmenhoven.NetApp is not the only storage vendor re-arranging the boardroom chairs. Scott Genereux, HDS's one-time general manager of worldwide sales, jumped ship to SAN specialist DataDirect Networks today, where he will serve as senior vice president or worldwide sales.

Genereux's move comes less than a year after the departure of HDS's CEO Dave Roberson, who left the company to head up HP's StorageWorks division, prompting speculation about HDS's future as an independent company.

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