As he enters his third month in the big chair, new Plexxi CEO Rich Napolitano is retooling the company's messaging to focus more on the benefits of software networks -- using Plexxi technology, of course -- and less on the abstract benefits of SDN.

Napolitano took over as CEO in November after 30 years in the technology industry, most recently at EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), where he was president of the Unified Storage Division. (See Plexxi Taps Former EMC Exec as New CEO.)

Napolitano's vision for Plexxi is to communicate that it serves the needs of changing networks. Previously, enterprises and service providers built network infrastructure first. But now, networks need to be flexible to meet the needs of new applications: web-facing, mobile, big data, and hybrid clouds. Application needs come first. That requires software networks, which is where Plexxi comes in, Napolitano says.

"Requirements have shifted a lot and networking hasn't changed much architecturally in 20-something years," Napolitano says.

Plexxi provides both SDN software and switch hardware. Customers include storage information management company Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM) and other enterprises, colocation companies, and OTT and managed service providers for backup, cloud and disaster recovery.

Plexxi claims to provide a 90% reduction in cabling and 30% reduction in boxes compared with a traditional leaf-and-spine architecture, such as Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Arista Networks Inc. , leading to reduced TCO, capex and improved ease-of-use, Napolitano says.

'Pointless debate into the echo chambers'
To drive growth, messaging needed to change, Napolitano says. "The message was too much focused on how we did what we did, and not enough focusd on what we did. We need to get into focused revenue mode -- to get away from appealng to the blogosphere and appeal to the customers, so the masses get it," he says.

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Mat Matthews, co-founder, VP product management, says, "We've fundamentally changed the marketing strategy. In the old days we tried to convince the world that what we were doing was SDN and what everybody else was dong wasn't. It was a pointless debate into the echo chambers of SDN."

It's too soon to say whether Plexxi is a strong contender in the marketplace, says IDC analyst Brad Casemore. "Given that the market is still nascent, at least in the enterprise, I'm reluctant to apply terms like 'strong' and 'weak' to any venture-funded startup."

Casemore adds, "Plexxi has some compelling technology, but it has yet to make appreciable commercial gains in the market."

Next Page: Shuffling the Deck

The focus on serving the needs of application workloads "makes sense, because network infrastructure only exists to support the application workloads," Casemore says. "As workloads evolve and change, network requirements evolve with them."

Network operators need to be introduced to the concepts of software networking, and Plexxi's "starter kits," introduced in December, can help with that, Casemore says. The starter kits "represent a tactical effort to package Plexxi's technology in a way that is easily understood and consumable for enterprises," he says. (See Plexxi Introduces SDN Starter Kits .)

Plexxi is three and a half years old, not yet profitable, and has raised $48 million in three rounds of venture funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners , Matrix Partners and North Bridge. Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital are aditional debt investors. Plexxi plans another round of funding this year.

Shuffling the deck
Before working at EMC, Napolitano was president and general manager of US sales for Sun Microsystems Inc. , which was acquired by Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL). He previously headed Pirus Networks, which was acquired by Sun, and was co-founder and CEO of Data Kinesis, which was acquired by Adaptec Inc. (Nasdaq: ADPT).

Napolitano served on the Plexxi board for two and a half years as an independent member. In stepping into the CEO role, he replaced founder David Husak, who now runs engineering as CTO.

Since taking over in November, Napolitano has named a new bench of top management: Tim Lieto, previously of Sun, 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) and Lucent, is the new senior vice president of sales and customer service, and Michael Welts, who previously served with a series of networking startups, is VP marketing.

They replace Nils Swart, previously Plexxi director of business development, and Mike Bushong, former VP marketing. Swart went to stealth enterprise security startup Skyport Systems, while Bushong went to Plexxi competitor Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD). Napolitano praised both men, but said they were not the right fit for the company.

Bushong speaks highly of Napolitano as well. (Swart declined to comment about Plexxi or Napolitano.)

"I like Plexxi, and I love Rich," Bushong says. "I would work for Rich again in a heartbeat."

Bushong adds, "When you have a startup, your CEO should be the best sales guy," and Napolitano fits the bill. Napolitano understands big companies' needs, and combines that with "a small-company passion."

— Mitch Wagner, , West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].