Nishan CTO Cuts Out

Nishan Systems Inc. CTO and VP of engineering Chris Eidler has left the IP storage switch startup -- but a Nishan spokesman downplays the news as "not that big a deal."

A source familiar with Nishan says Eidler was handed his walking papers two weeks ago after a disagreement with recently appointed Nishan CEO Bob Russo. "He and Bob Russo never got along," says our source.

Russo, who joined Nishan in January 2003, has clearly brought an assertive sales focus to the company -- aiming for the startup to reach $25 million in sales this year (see our interview with Robert Russo, President and CEO, Nishan Systems and Nishan Appoints CEO).

We reached Eidler late last Friday on his mobile phone. "You've caught me in the backyard -- I'm building a jungle gym for the kids," he told us, asking that we call him back today. Reached today, he said, "There's very little I can tell you, other than that I've left Nishan." Oh. Good thing we waited 48 hours for that information, then!

Tom Clark, Nishan's director of technical marketing, says it would be "inappropriate for me or anyone at the company to comment on" Eidler's departure. "It's a personnel issue."Nishan does not plan to hire a new CTO or VP of engineering to replace Eidler, according to Clark. "Our technical direction has been pretty well set; we have a pretty good roadmap," he says. "It's not like we have a huge gap... Frankly, it's not that big a deal."

Not that big a deal that the CTO and VP of engineering of a technology company has unexpectedly quit? Perhaps not. After all, Eidler had been with Nishan for less than a year. Previously, he was co-founder and CTO of StorageWay, a storage service provider (SSP) acquired by Cable & Wireless (NYSE: CWP) in July 2002 for $2 million (see C&W Acquires StorageWay Cheap).

Before helping to start StorageWay in 1999, he held various positions at Auspex Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ASPX), Connex (acquired by Western Digital Corp. [NYSE: WDC]), and MTI Technology Corp. (Nasdaq: MTIC).

— Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch