Mike Killian CTO at Video Storage Start-Up Blackwave

Blackwave, Inc. announced that Michael Kilian has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. He will lead the company’s technology strategy and product innovation efforts. Prior to joining Blackwave, Mr. Kilian spent the previous 11 years at EMC, during which he led the acquisition, integration and growth of EMC’s Centera division as its CTO. During his tenure, Centera defined a new storage category and generated well over $1BN in cumulative revenue. Most recently, Mr. Kilian served as a Distinguished Engineer in EMC’s Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.

"Mike Kilian will work alongside Blackwave’s talented engineering team to accelerate our growth as a key provider of Internet video storage and delivery infrastructure," said Bob Rizika, Blackwave’s President and CEO. "He is known to both storage experts and investors as a visionary technologist with the proven ability to bring industry-changing innovations to market."

Mike Kilian has built a career at the vanguard of new technology markets. "From his early work in massively parallel computing to establishing content addressable storage (CAS) as a new storage category, Mike has cultivated opportunities with near perfect market timing," noted Rizika. "Our customers will benefit immensely from Mike’s history of technological leadership."

"My greatest professional joy comes from working internally and externally to lead innovative products into emerging marketplaces," says Kilian. As CTO, Mr. Kilian will work with Chief Scientist Dr. Muriel Medard and the Blackwave Engineering team to connect technological advances with the evolving needs of the company’s core customers: Content Delivery Networks, Media and Entertainment, and Web 2.0 companies.

Blackwave has made three strong additions to their management team in the last two months. In addition to Mr. Kilian, the company added Chief Scientist Dr. Muriel Medard from MIT and Mr. David Feldman, formerly of Isilon Systems, as Vice President of Sales. "In a tough economy, smart people look for opportunities that meet a real market need," noted CEO Bob Rizika. "We are proud to have globally recognized leaders like Mike, Muriel, and Dave join us as we work with our customers to solve the problem of Internet video storage and delivery infrastructure."

Blackwave builds storage and delivery infrastructure specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of Internet Video distribution. Integrating intelligent software with standard industry hardware, Blackwave Systems dramatically reduce the cost per video streamed or downloaded, increasing the profitability of video distribution for content owners and their delivery partners.

Blackwave combines experienced management with the backing of three leading venture capital firms: Flybridge Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, and Sigma Partners.