All told, the startup appears to be in the right place at just about the right time (although its obviously not alone). All the major industry players -- including Brocade, EMC, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., and Cisco Systems Inc. -- have been driving hard to deliver more intelligence in the network, and its clear that with 10-Gbit/s network technologies some type of specialized processors will be required (see V-Switch Alliances Take Shape, Brocade Loads Code, Signs EMC, HP Opens Doors to CASA, and IBM Plays With Self (Virtually)).
As such, iVivity is hoping that Coombs, who officially started at the company in June after a six-month CEO search, will bring his industry connections to bear as the startup upshifts into aggressive sales mode. He was formerly executive VP of operations at Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) -- where he had a hand in boosting HDSs competitive edge against EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) in the high-end RAID array business.
Most recently, Coombs was president of Ricoh Silicon Valley Inc., a subsidiary of Ricoh Co. Ltd. that makes document-scanning appliances. He also was VP of storage sales and marketing at Digital Equipment Corp. (subsequently bought by Compaq, now part of HP).
Founded in November 2000, iVivity was originally planning to have operations in three locations -- Silicon Valley, Atlanta, and India -- but decided to consolidate everything in Atlanta, says Qazilbash. "We dont have the turnover we would have had if were based in California," he says.
Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
