Hitachi Data Systems Executive Joins Storwize Team

Peter Smails brings more than 20 years of experience to leading provider of capacity optimization solutions as VP of Worldwide Marketing

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Storwize Inc., the leading provider of real-time capacity optimization solutions for primary storage, today announced it has appointed Peter Smails its Vice President of Worldwide Marketing.

“He will be an evangelist for our capacity optimization technologies, as well as a spokesperson for customers, press and the analyst community, communicating the benefits of our solutions. We look forward to Peter’s contributions in continuing our company’s success.”

Smails joins Storwize after five years at Hitachi Data Systems, where he served most recently as Senior Director, Global Product Marketing. In his position, Smails was responsible for product marketing strategy of Hitachi’s $2.5B hardware, software, services, and solutions portfolio, and managed a team responsible for market sizing, product/solution strategy, messaging, pricing, go-to-market, competitive and market research, and alliances marketing.

Prior to HDS, Smails served as Vice President, Sales & Marketing for KOM Networks, managing sales, marketing and product management operations; Vice President, Product Management at OTG Software, managing a $50 million line of storage, content and messaging management products; various executive positions at Smart Storage, helping to build the $20 million company and leading its successful sale to OTG; and as a Product Line Manager for Lotus Development Corporation.

“I am looking forward to joining a company with an incredible vision and superior technology that has made significant progress in revolutionizing how people deal with an ever-growing volume of business-critical data,” said Smails. “Storwize offers me a tremendous opportunity to expand and implement the strategic vision of the company’s management team as we firmly position primary data capacity optimization solutions as a ‘must have’ business tool.”

“Peter has an impressive track record of developing and executing corporate marketing plans and in-depth experience in storage, data and content management technologies, all of which will be fully utilized in his position here at Storwize,” said Gal Naor, CEO of Storwize. “He will be an evangelist for our capacity optimization technologies, as well as a spokesperson for customers, press and the analyst community, communicating the benefits of our solutions. We look forward to Peter’s contributions in continuing our company’s success.”

Smails has been a member of the Storage Networking Industry Association, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and National Association of Broadcasters. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from New York University.

About Storwize

Storwize Inc. is the leading provider of real-time data compression solutions aimed at primary storage – without compromise – that dramatically boost storage space on network storage environments. The Storwize appliance provides organizations with additional capacity and associated savings in capital, operational, maintenance and management resources. Storwize appliances are installed between the organization’s storage arrays and their network. Designed to work with any storage array it is connected to, the Storwize appliance has been successfully tested for interoperability with leading storage vendors such as EMC and NetApp. Storwize solutions have been shipped to customer sites worldwide. Storwize is a member of the Green Grid. For more information, visit the company’s website: www.storwize.com.