SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STEC, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEC), The SSD Company™, a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and products, today announced that industry veteran Ali Zadeh has joined the company as Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager to help develop its systems and software technology strategy. Mr. Zadeh is chartered with expanding STEC's SSD offerings through the definition, development and sales of new software and systems that take advantage of the company's intellectual property portfolio. These offerings will help enable enterprise IT and data center managers to accelerate user access to data and help to effectively manage the exponential growth in data.
Mr. Zadeh joins STEC with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the enterprise storage, data center systems, and software virtualization markets, and has a proven strong, revenue growth track record. His responsibilities will be focused on business development with enterprise OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs), as well as building partnerships that define and introduce new, unique and innovative hardware and software solutions to leverage STEC's intellectual property and expertise in solid-state technology. In this role, he is also chartered to explore the next-generation solid-state platform evolution and to expand STEC's reach in enterprise IT and data center environments.
"Ali joins STEC at a time when the enterprise SSD market is expected to achieve rapid growth over the next few years and his track record of leadership in building and strengthening organizations will help further expand our business opportunities in both the enterprise storage and server market segments," said Manouch Moshayedi, STEC's Chairman and CEO. "His past experiences with innovative start-ups and established storage players make Ali ideally suited for his new position with STEC."
During the past 7 years, Mr. Zadeh was responsible for building start-up companies toward rapid sales growth and successful exit strategies, which included Scalent, Inc. (acquired by Dell Inc.), NeoPath, Inc. (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.) and InfoBlox, Inc. Mr. Zadeh also served as Vice President of Intercontinental Operations and Vice President of International Sales for Network Appliance, Inc., where he led global sales and operations teams build revenue and maximize gross margins in vertical market segments.
"STEC is a true innovator and leader within the enterprise SSD industry and I am thrilled to become part of this exciting company in a high-growth market segment," said Mr. Zadeh. "I look forward to strategically utilizing the company's IP portfolio, system-level expertise, and passion for innovation to expand the use of solid-state storage in enterprise IT and data center environments around the globe. My goal is to help define and build creative solid-state solutions that are optimized to help manage the data deluge and lower TCO in the enterprise."
About STEC
STEC, Inc., The SSD Company™, is a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high-reliability needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). With headquarters in Santa Ana, California and locations worldwide, STEC leverages almost two decades of solid-state drive knowledge and experience to deliver the most comprehensive line of SSDs to the storage industry. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.stec-inc.com.
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Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those statements concerning enterprise OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs) adoption of enterprise SSD products and solutions; the growth of the enterprise storage and server markets; STEC's leadership position; the growth of sales of STEC's enterprise SSD products and solutions to enterprise OEM and ISV customers, and enterprise IT and data center environments; and the expected benefit and growth of STEC's systems and software technology strategy and expansion of sales as a result of hiring Mr. Zadeh. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by STEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The information contained in this press release is a statement of STEC's present intention, belief or expectation. STEC may change its intention, belief or expectation, at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, in STEC's assumptions or otherwise. STEC undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.