Troika Tries on New Head

Troika Networks is putting on a new face -- or rather, a new head -- as it attempts to land OEM partners for its Network Storage Services (NSS) platform. The company has hired Doug Rainbolt, previously VP of McData Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MCDTA) switch product groups, as its new president and CEO (see Troika Taps Rainbolt as CEO).

Rainbolt is taking over the CEO chair from Troika founder Bill Terrell, who will return to his previous position of chief technology officer after a year and a half at the helm of the company (see Troika CEO Quits).

Bill is a very, very strong cornerstone of this company, and will continue to be so,” Rainbolt says. “We’re going to work side by side.”

The shift for Troika’s top management comes at a time when the startup is hungrily looking for OEM partners to latch onto its NSS platform technology. The platform, which is Troika’s second attempt at hitting the storage jackpot, combines the scaleability of an intelligent switch with the flexibility of an application appliance, Rainbolt says (see Can Troika Triumph on Take Two?).

The company created the platform after its first SCSI-to-Fibre Channel HBA software flop, which ended early last year when JNI Corp. (Nasdaq: JNIC) bought all the intellectual property rights to the technology on the cheap (see JNI Buys Troika's HBA Software).While true intelligent switch technology is still at least a couple years off, Rainbolt says, the Troika platform, which is based on the company’s own ASIC technology, is available today. It plugs in like a storage array and looks like a storage array to the switch, but it can accelerate the performance of applications like virtualization and backup to 400,000 I/O operations per second, he claims.

The platform will be sold only through channel partners, and Rainbolt claims that a number of OEMs have been sniffing quite intently around the technology. And Troika needs its new CEO’s expertise in its appeals to potential partners and customers. "It comes down to looking at what’s good for the company," Rainbolt says. "Bill is very strong from a technology perspective, but when it comes to outbound customer focus, they needed some help."

While he was working as VP of McData’s switch products group, Rainbolt says he was entrusted with the job of dramatically expanding McData’s presence in the market. “I grew that line of business and took some substantial share from the main competitor,” he says, referring to Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD). “I think the same thing will be true here. I see a lot of rich technology. [We’re] putting intelligence in the network, and really simplify management. We’re very well positioned.”

Before joining McData, Rainbolt spent three years with Exabyte Corp. (Nasdaq: EXBT) and 17 years with Tektronix Inc. (NYSE: TEK).

While former CEO Terrell said the company wouldn’t need any more funding following its latest $13 million round, Troika’s new head honcho says more funding may be needed, depending on the market strategy the company chooses (see Can Troika Triumph on Take Two?).Rainbolt says he is currently examining different market approaches to determine whether the company may need another round, and when it can expect to break even. “Our investors are extremely enthusiastic. I’m not concerned about financing... I did due diligence before I joined the company.”

Troika also announced today that it has hired two new business development VPs: Steve Thesing, who previously worked as a manager of business development at Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS), and Dan DeIeso, who was formerly a part of the business development team in EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC)’s Clariion division.

The company now has just under 60 employees, and Rainbolt says that, with the exception of a few additions on the marketing and sales side, he expects the headcount to remain fairly stable for the time being.

— Eugénie Larson, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch