Ex-McData EVP to Head XIOtech

A week after stepping down as the top sales executive at McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA), Alain Andreoli returned to work today as president and CEO of startup SAN storage provider XIOtech Corp..

The appointment confirms last week's Byte and Switch report that Andreoli would go to a McData partner (see McData Sales Boss McExits). The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based XIOtech resells McData switches. Its main product is the Magnitude 3D storage array, which uses a distributed controller architecture the company calls Dimensional Storage Clusters to provide failover capabilities if one controller becomes disabled.

"My departure from McData was very friendly," Andreoli says. "Were looking to enhance the partnership between the two companies. This company is very solid and growing. It's ready for the next phase of development. It’s an exciting opportunity."

Andreoli acknowledges he knew little about XIOtech until the board contacted him several months ago. Still, he says he's impressed. "I had no idea of the size of the business XIOtech already has," Andreoli says. "There are around 1,000 customers, extremely satisfied and waiting for the new-generation product."

Andreoli seems ready for the challenge of putting XIOtech on the map -- no easy task in today's competitive environment. The presence of big-name suppliers such as Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) hampers efforts by startups and SAN specialists to get attention from prospective customers.In its favor, XIOtech has recognition among potential buyers. The company scored well in Heavy Reading's Fall 2003 Storage Networking Market Perception Study, leading all startups in the Fibre Channel SAN segment with name recognition among 28.6 percent of respondents. Founded in 1995, XIOtech also cracked Byte and Switch's list of top ten private storage companies last summer (see Top Ten Reloaded).

XIOtech, which has relied primarily on direct sales, is looking to widen its channel sales. Andreoli says he also wants to increase sales internationally (see XIOtech Launches Channel Program).

"The company has not captured international attention yet," he says. "One of my first duties is to see what I can do there."

Ken Hendrickson, named XIOtech's chairman and acting CEO last March, remains as chairman (see XIOtech Hires Acting CEO).

Andreoli was with McData for less than a year as EVP of sales and services, joining in December 2002 (see McData Picks Sales Chief). Before joining McData, Andreoli was president and COO of NTT/Verio Inc. Andreoli also spent five years at Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK) as VP of global services and international operations and 14 years as an executive with Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN).— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch