Out of the Frying Pan...

3:00 PM -- At least one top exec who joined Sun from StorageTek last year isn't waiting to see if the deal makes Sun a storage titan.

Sources say Brenda Zawatski, who headed one of three business units of Suns Data Management Group (DMG), is moving to Pillar Data Systems to run its marketing. Zawatski was VP of Information Lifecycle Management Solutions (ILMS) at Sun. Until last February, she held the same position at StorageTek. Before that, she held executive posts at Veritas and IBM.

An industry insider who knows Zawatski says she stayed at Sun to help smoothe the transition after Sun closed its $4.1 billion acquisition of StorageTek last August, then left amicably. (See Sun Sets on StorageTek.) She accepted the job at Pillar, this source says, because it's close to her Northern California home.

Zawatski's departure is interesting on several counts. First, it's a sign that Sun is done with the transition phase of its StorageTek acquisition. From here on, expect the other shoe to drop.

The move is also a sign that Pillar is ready to get more serious about marketing. A former colleague of Zawatski’s described her as “too aggressive for StorageTek and too forward-thinking for Sun" -- which could be just what Pillar needs. Up to now, the company's been best known for accumulating $150 million in funding from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. (See Pillar Leaves Post – At Last and Larry's Stealth Storage Startup.)Bottom line? A notable departure and a hire to watch.

— Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch

Organizations mentioned in this article: