Sandhu and Lolayekar have engineering backgrounds. Before starting Maranti, Sandhu was VP of engineering at Efficient Networks and iReady Corp., and he worked at National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM). Lolayekar previously worked at Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO).
The Maranti founders' exit followed the board's appointment of Debbie Miller as CEO in February 2004 (see More Money for Maranti). Her move from blade server startup Egenera Inc. to Maranti coincided with a $26 million funding round, and there is speculation the founders were pushed out by venture capitalists looking for change. When Miller became CEO, Sandhu took the post as chief strategy officer -- but not for long.
Founders leaving a startup isn't unusual. The entrepreneurs who get things up and running rarely transition into day-to-day guys, says financial analyst Steve Berg of Punk Ziegel & Co. Still, it seems like it was kind of early for them to leave.
Indeed, Xiotech's founders Phil Soran, John Guider, and Larry Aszmann went on to found competitor Compellent Technologies Inc. Now Compellent and Xiotech appear to be heading to court (see Compellent, XIOtech Swap Suits).
Sandhu says he expects no legal problems with Maranti because it is not directly in competition with Xiotech.
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.
