Sun Vet Takes Shining to NeoPath

NeoPath Networks new CEO sees it as the next Java (see NeoPath Names Baratz CEO).

Not from a technology standpoint, of course. NeoPath’s File Director virtualization software is a much different product than Sun’s Web development Java software. But as the former head of Sun Microsystems Inc.’s (Nasdaq: SUNW) Java division, Alan Baratz points out a business parallel as he takes over as NeoPath CEO.

“I’ve brought new products to market in large companies, helped small private companies get themselves launched, and turned around small companies,” boasts Baratz during his first day on the job at NeoPath.

He says his new post reminds him of when he first took over a 40-person JavaSoft division at Sun in 1996 when it had one customer and he turned it into a complete business unit. “NeoPath closely resembles that, except it’s not part of a large public company.”

NeoPath is a 36-person startup with $18 million in funding and a product barely out the door -- it launched its File Director in December (see NeoPath Opens Up). But the biggest difference between where NeoPath is now and Java was nine years ago is NeoPath doesn’t have Sun’s muscle behind it. [Ed. note: Well, Sun had muscle back in 1996.]Still, Baratz says he’s confident NeoPath has both solid technology and a market waiting to be filled. He was introduced to NeoPath while advising Gabriel Venture Partners, which led NeoPath’s $12 million second round of funding last September on his recommendation (see NeoPath Nabs $12M).

To make room for Baratz, NeoPath founder Rajeev Chawla goes from CEO to EVP of products. Chawla says he planned from the start to hire a CEO once NeoPath shipped product.

Baratz says the immediate goal is to build up NeoPath’s sales structure. The startup started by selling direct, and is looking to establish channel partners and eventually OEM deals. NeoPath executives say they have a few customers and name one: communications processor developer Ubicom Inc.

Partnerships will take time. First, NeoPath has to prove itself. It competes mostly with Rainfinity and hardware-based Acopia Networks Inc. File Director pools information from multiple NAS devices, which can grow unwieldy to manage for large organizations. Acopia picked up $25 million in funding last year, which suggests investors see a big market for at least one of them (see Acopia Aces $25M).

Baratz helped Java rise to prominence during his tenure, and he’s held several executive positions at IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM). But he knows there’s no guarantees when working with smaller companies. Baratz had mixed results in his last job as CEO of business logic software and services company Versata, Inc. After five straight quarters of increasing revenue, Baratz stepped down earlier this month after warning that revenue would slip to $2.2 million to $2.4 million this quarter from $4.1 million last quarter.Before that, he was CEO of business collaboration software company Zaplet, which had heavy layoff months before Baratz departed in late 2002 and eventually merged with MetricStream.

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch