Richie Lary CTO, X-IO

X-IO Technologies (Xiotech Corporation) has appointed storage veteran Bill Miller to its board of directors.

He will leverage his storage industry experience and track record in building IT companies to actively assist X-IO’s executive team as they take advantage of the company’s growth and momentum within highly virtualized data centers.

Other key executive announcements:

• Matt Bross, chairman and CEO at Compass-EOS, joins the board of directors
• Alastair MacWillson, chair of The Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) and former global managing partner of Accenture’s global security practice, joins as a strategic advisor
• Richard (Richie) Lary has been promoted to CTO

Commenting on the appointments Brian Owen, CEO at X-IO, said: “The experience and seniority of these individuals reflects X-IO’s growing appeal and market presence. Bill, Matt, Alastair and Richie all see the huge opportunity that is opening up for X-IO as we shift from being a technology focused organization to a solutions led company. Our solutions are increasingly becoming the storage foundation standard within the evolving software defined storage market. We are seeing huge momentum building in the VDI market. Attracting such exciting talent will allow us to capitalize on this momentum, which is crucial to support the long-term growth strategy of the company.”

Bill Miller to board of directors
 He is the founder and managing partner of Miller Investment Management and PV Ventures. With a background in investing in leading high-growth technology companies, X-IO’s management team will leverage Bill’s s expertise in strategy, operational excellence, and sales and marketing execution to accelerate X-IO’s growth.

Owen said: “With a stream of 36 start-up investments under his belt and as the co-founder of cloud-storage pioneer StorageNetworks – a company that grew to $125 million in revenues over three years (1997 to 2000) – Bill provides valuable expertise and experience. He will be a vital component to the development of X-IO’s overall strategy.”

Matt Bross joins board of directors
He is the chairman and CEO of Compass-EOS, a next-generation routing company providing the world’s first inter-chip optical connect. He is an industry visionary, with a range of experience with strategic roles within organizations including: group CTO of Huawei, group CTO of British Telecom and BT Innovate, where he was the driving force behind their advanced 21st Century Network and BT Innovate, together with CEO of IP Partners Ltd.

Owen said: “Matt has a track record of understanding key global business trends and translating them into a business benefits for the end user. His strategic connections and networking skills will be invaluable and having Matt in this role will help X-IO to continue to deliver innovative solutions that create market leading, competitive advantages.”

Alastair MacWillson advisor to executive staff
He is chair of the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP). He was the global managing partner of Accenture‘s global security practice and also served on the leadership council of Accenture’s global technology consulting business. Prior to joining Accenture in 2002, he was the global leader of the technology consulting practice in PricewaterhouseCoopers. Prior to moving into consultancy in 1990, he worked in government service and held senior advisory positions on security and risk related strategy with the UK Foreign Office and, through secondment, with the US State Department. His business acumen and experience, makes him a valuable addition to the board.

Owen said: “Having Alastair join X-IO as a strategic advisor gives us an incredible depth of business experience, particularly internationally. He has already added tremendous value as a key trusted strategist and will ensure X-IO continues its upwards trajectory.“

Richard Lary promoted CTO
 He has been in the computer industry for over 40 years, is corporate fellow at X-IO, and joined the company in December 2009. He began his career as a software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation, building operating systems and compilers for the PDP-8 and PDP-11 computers. In 1975, he served as a member of the core team that defined the VAX computer architecture, and later the implementation team for the first VAX computer. After joining DEC’s storage business unit in 1978, he was a key architect of the digital storage architecture and a key implementer of several of the hardware and firmware components of the associated product family. He became DEC’s storage architect in 1990, storage technical director in 1994, and Compaq Computer Corporation’s storage technical director in 1998, where he was responsible for technical oversight of the entire corporate storage architecture and product line. Prior to joining X-IO, he had been an independent consultant in the storage industry and a technical advisor to several emerging storage companies since 2000. He holds 32 patents for his work in processor and storage system architecture and design, and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Server I/O Conference in January 2000. He also frequently speaks at industry events. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Owen said: “Richie will take full responsibility for all technical developments at X-IO. With his vast industry knowledge and deep technical storage experience, Richie will lead technical advancements at X-IO that will keep us on top in terms of innovation and demand.“

Owen concluded: “We are embracing the shift towards virtualized solutions having greater integration with storage. Our no fuss campaigns, supported by incredibly dependable storage solutions, are at the heart of our business strategy. This is an exciting time for us and I believe our ongoing success, driven by innovation, will continue to attract the industry’s top talent.”