SHORT TAKES

SUN SALES EXECUTIVE HEADS LINEO ORGANIZATION

Lindon, UTAH — Lineo, Inc., a leading innovator in Linux-based embedded systems, real-time and high availability solutions, announced the appointment of Richard Larsen as the senior vice president of Lineo’s worldwide sales operations. Effective immediately, Larsen assumes responsibility for the company’s overall sales strategy to corporate accounts, OEMs, resellers, systems integrators, service providers and end users. Larsen will be part of the company’s executive staff and will report directly to company CEO Bryan Sparks. Lineo also announced the appointment of John Mezinko as vice president of Americas sales and Paul Ray as director of worldwide product sales. Mezinko and Ray join Lineo’s current sales team which also includes Hamid Mirab, vice president of sales in Europe, Irrana Huang, vice president of sales in Asia, and David Reeves, director of corporate strategic accounts.

“We’re fortunate to attract the sales leadership of Richard Larsen, John Mezinko and Paul Ray,” said Bryan Sparks, CEO of Lineo, Inc. “These seasoned professionals will help Lineo compete more aggressively on a worldwide basis and move into more markets.” Larsen brings to Lineo more than 22 years of high-tech industry sales experience, most recently spending seven years as sales director with Sun Microsystems. While at Sun, Larsen directed the software sales organization and had responsibility for sales management, business development and strategic accounts. Now with Lineo, Larsen will have responsibilities for managing the company’s worldwide sales organization, integrating Lineo’s product lines through several channels of distribution and building a successful worldwide sales model. Mezinko, a veteran of the high tech industry, brings to Lineo nearly 28 years of sales management experience, including sales positions with NCR, Integrated Systems, Inc., and most recently Wind River. While at Wind River, Mezinko was a director of sales and was responsible for the development tools group. Prior to Wind River’s acquisition of Integrated Systems, Inc., he was vice president of sales for the development tools division. Mezinko’s career background includes sales, sales management and strategic account development. At Lineo, Mezinko will be responsible for building a geographically diverse sales organization and maintaining strong relationships with strategic accounts. Contact Lineo at http://www.lineo.com .

BEN ROSEN SAYS GOODBYE TO COMPAQ

Houston, TEXAS — Longtime Compaq Computer Corp. chairman Ben Rosen, who played a key role in ushering in the age of personal computing, said goodbye to the company in an emotional ceremony marking his retirement and replacement as chairman by chief executive Michael Capellas. On September 28, Compaq said President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Capellas had added the title of chairman, effective immediately, and Rosen would retire. Rosen, 67, fought back tears as he spoke about the accomplishments of Compaq from its start in 1982 as an idea sketched on a restaurant placemat to its status today as the world’s largest personal computer maker. “As I leave Compaq, it’s with extraordinary pride at the towering achievements you all have had,” he told a gathering of several thousand employees at the company’s Houston headquarters. “(You) have created the modern portable computer industry and the PC server industry,” Rosen said, referring to the two key products that catapulted Compaq into what is now a $40 billion company. “These are great achievements – to create 65,000 jobs, $40 billion in sales and $40 billion in market value, all starting with a sketch and a dream,” he said.

Rosen said his decision to step down as chairman was designed “to forever end any doubt whether the CEO runs the company.” Capellas was selected chief executive last year after predecessor Eckhard Pfeiffer resigned amid falling sales and disappearing profits. He has been working to restore Compaq’s luster and said on Thursday he expected “strong double-digit (revenue) growth the rest of the year. “We’re managing for growth now, not restructuring,” he said. Rosen, who had chaired the company since its inception, praised Capellas’s performance in turning the company around from the dark days of early 1999. Through the years, Rosen earned a reputation as a chairman who knew what Wall Street liked – predictable results and a high stock price. In recent days, Compaq’s stock, which had been in the 30s, has dropped below $25 amid ongoing concerns about the health of the PC industry. It was trading at $23.07 a share, down $1.12, late in the session on the New York Stock Exchange.

INPRISE/BORLAND APPOINTS FRANK SLOOTMAN

Scotts Valley, CALIF. — Inprise/Borland announced the appointment of Frank Slootman to vice president and general manager of software products. Slootman will be responsible for the overall growth of Inprise/Borland’s product lines in all markets. Slootman will report to the Chief Operating Officer, Doug Barre. Slootman brings over 15 years of software industry experience to Inprise/Borland. Most recently he was vice president of EcoSYSTEMS, a division of Compuware Corporation, where he transformed a struggling product line into a profitable market leader. Focused on network management software products, EcoSYSTEMS became a fast growing product line at Compuware. Slootman also held product management positions at Compuware in Michigan, Europe and California. Slootman began his career with Burroughs Corporation in Detroit, now Comshare, Inc., where he was responsible for program management of enterprise application development (4GL) software.

“Frank has a proven track record of successfully developing and executing product growth and transformation strategies,” said Doug Barre, chief operating officer of Inprise/Borland. “We are thrilled that Frank has joined the Inprise/Borland team as we continue to strengthen our leadership position as a provider of complete application software lifecycle solutions and services.” Inprise Corporation (referred to in this press release as Inprise/Borland) is a leading provider of Internet access infrastructure and application development tools and services for all major platforms, including Linux(R), Solaris and Windows. Founded in 1983, Inprise/Borland is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Inprise/Borland at http://www.borland.com/ .

NSF ANNOUNCES DIRECTOR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS

San Diego, CALIF. — Science author and editor Curt Suplee has been appointed director of the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Suplee will be responsible for overseeing the agency’s communication activities with the public, including Congress, the news media, states and governors, and various scientific, engineering and education organizations. He begins his duties at NSF on October 23, 2000.

Suplee comes to NSF from the Washington Post, where he serves as science writer and editor for National News. In more than 20 years at that newspaper, he has also served as deputy editor of the Style (feature) section, editor of the Sunday arts section, assistant editor of the Outlook (Sunday opinion) section, editor/writer of the former science and technology page called Outposts, and editor of the former educational science section called Horizon. Suplee also served as press aide and speechwriter for the late Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, and taught English at the University of Minnesota and Memphis State University. Suplee earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English from Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.) and a Master of Arts in English literature and philosophy from the University of Minnesota. In addition to nearly 1,000 articles published in the Washington Post, Suplee has authored numerous articles for national magazines and three books on science. NSF is an independent federal agency which supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of about $4 billion.

SANGATE NAMES FERESTEN VP OF SALES AND MARKETING

Southborough, MASS. — SANgate Systems, innovators of the first intelligent SAN solution to connect dissimilar storage network environments, announced that Paul Feresten has been appointed Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In this position, Feresten will oversee all product management, strategic marketing, brand communications and worldwide sales initiatives. “Paul joins our senior management team at a very exciting time,” said Alan S. Davis, President and CEO of SANgate Systems. “We are the only data storage management company that is fully addressing Enterprise SANs by providing interoperability between OS/390 and open systems storage. We will leverage Paul’s expertise in building substantial sales and marketing organizations to further establish SANgate Systems as leaders in the explosive storage networking arena.”

“Companies are growing their data storage at unprecedented rates,” added Feresten. “Environments are increasing in complexity, data is more critical than ever to business, and qualified personnel are in short supply. The drive in the market has been toward consolidation and heterogeneity, yet there has been no attempt by vendors to address the whole Enterprise. SANgate Systems will gain a real foothold in the data storage management market and I welcome the opportunity to help make that happen.” Feresten brings proven market development, branding mastery, and broad sales experience to SANgate Systems, including over twenty years in key management roles at Digital Equipment Corporation. While Vice President of Sales and Marketing for DEC’s storage business unit, Feresten created the highly successful StorageWorks brand and grew the business to over $2 billion. Most recently, Feresten was Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing for TRIMM Technologies, Inc., a global supplier of storage subsystems and enclosures.

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