Features - Enterprise Data Insights:

BlueArc's PRESIDENT ON COMPANY'S SUCCESS, FUTURE
By Derrick Harris, Editor

DSstar editor Derrick Harris was fortunate enough to talk with Mike Gustafson, president of BlueArc, about the string of recent successes the company has experienced, as well as about the transition from his prior role at McDATA. He also clears the air about the "scaling back" of CTO Geoff Barrall's duties.

DSstar: I was wondering how you're enjoying your time at BlueArc and what differences there are between this and your previous position at McDATA?

MIKE GUSTAFSON: I'm loving it. It's been outstanding. I've been here for a little over 90 days now, I've got the family moved out. We're settled in, got our kids in the same school and all that good stuff. So from a personal standpoint, it's been great.

The validation I've gotten since I joined the company, from the marketplace, is very refreshing because a lot of times when you hear about companies with innovative technology like BlueArc's you really aren't sure whether it's all completely true. Until you really test it with the marketplace and customers, I don't take it to the bank.

I've had the opportunity to see probably 30-40 customers since I joined, domestically and in the U.K., and it's real. We've really seen continued growth and revenue and customers. I'm very excited about it.

DSstar: With their cutting-edge technology and their presence in the HPC field, did that make the transition any more difficult for you?

GUSTAFSON: Well, there's definitely some uniquenesses in the HPC side and based on the target markets that we're going after, but there are also a lot of commonalities. I mean, customers, if you kind of abstract it a little bit, they have some very simple things. They want to be heard, they want to voice what their requirements are, and they want someone who can bring them value and execute on what they promise in terms of their product direction.

From our standpoint, our headline is "Changing the economics of networked storage," and we do it completely in terms of how we architect it, and innovation and design of the product, driving the performance and the scalability while driving their total costs down and simplifying the management. These are promises that they made in the industry for a long time. Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of work to do across the industry, but BlueArc's really taken a leadership role to come at this thing in a different way, and it's proving true.

DSstar: You guys have been in the news a lot lately. You've had OEM agreements with Engenio, for example, you're entering the channel market. I would assume this bodes well for the future. What do you think the future holds for BlueArc?

GUSTAFSON: Yeah, it really does. I mean, we've got multiple things in place, multiple strategies and things that are all lined up with driving growth net new customers.

The Engenio [agreement] that you mentioned obviously helps drive a stronger partnership not just from the integration for the product and the system, but from a go-to-market, as well. So, we're lining up with the Engenio folks as an example to help us understand how to serve their customers better, and it also gives us a chance to broaden our market reach. We have an opportunity now to provide a gateway approach for existing Engenio products.

So, those are examples of how we're expanding our channels and expanding our partnerships, and obviously by doing that, we're able to reach more of the marketplace.

DSstar: There has also been news lately that Geoff Barrall has been lessening his duties and pursuing outside activities, and some have speculated about the company's future as a result of this. Is there anything you would like to clear up about that situation?

GUSTAFSON: I think there are different angles on that one, but the bottom line is Geoff has always been a critical component of our technology vision and direction. And he's done that with Gianluca Rattazzi, our chair and CEO, and a strategy council of people and he continues in that role. No change at all from that perspective, he's going to continue to be the CTO.

He picked up some additional responsibilities probably in the January time frame of this year from marketing, as an example, which really from a CTO, it's not really lined up for a CTO-level person. His strengths and his values are going to continue to be leveraged in the CTO role. As I joined the company with my background and experience in the customer-facing side, sales and marketing, I took more of that responsibility, and it has allowed Geoff to continue to look at other alternatives in the market -- which he had done as well before I joined the company.

DSstar: Speaking of outside interests, you sit on the board of InPhase Technologies. What role do you think holographic storage will play in the future of the storage industry?

GUSTAFSON: I think it's unbelievably opportunistic. I think there's some validation that need to occur in the space before it becomes commercialized. However, with InPhase's proven holographic media and leadership in holographic storage development, they are extremely well positioned to deliver disruptive archival offerings in the short term. Its cost, and its archival length and time, give it an opportunity to be very disruptive to tape. So, I think in the storage space, that will be the first place it shows itself.

DSstar: As a whole, where do you see the storage industry heading in the near future, and maybe five years down the road?

GUSTAFSON: I still think it's probably one of the most exciting areas within information technology because it's so important to customers. Everything from the life-blood of the company and the data is the assets -- those things aren't going to change. I think what's really exciting about where we are and what we can do with this is we can actually help change business models for companies.

It's amazing when you think about, if the core of a business' economic engine is time to market, as an example, and with the use of our technology we can accelerate time to market, that's a business-change event for them.

So, when you look at the amount of money, energy, pain and opportunity around the storage space, it's screaming for more innovation and more people like us to continue to invest there and drive true value.

DSstar: Is there anything you'd like to add? I'm sure you have some things you's like to clear up.

GUSTAFSON: The one thing I think, and maybe I didn't hit this hard enough ... you asked if there's anything I want to clear up: not at all. The only thing I think, it's critical for us ... our revenue is growing, our customer base is growing, our channels and partnerships are expanding, and those are all very good things. They're all tied back to taking a leading-edge and innovative technology and helping it drive business advantage for companies. So we're very excited about that. I couldn't be happier about joining the company, and I think we've got a great road ahead of us. We compete in a very competitive market, but we have a very strong position from which to grow.