11:45 AM -- For the third time in its relatively short history, Hammerhead Systems Inc. is changing CEOs.

Rob Keil, a founder of the company, is returning to the CEO post, the company is announcing today. Former chief executive Peter Savage is out, for reasons Hammerhead isn't specifying. (See Hammerhead Names CEO.)

"The board wanted new leadership to inject some new energy into the company," Keil says.

Keil, a veteran of Cisco, was Hammerhead's founding CEO in 2002. He held the post for the first 16 months before making way for a new CEO -- which is how startups often work.

What they don't often do is change twice more in the next few years. Joe Sigrist was replaced by Savage in late 2004, who's now been shuffled off in favor of Keil, a veteran of Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) (via StrataCom) and former entrepreneur-in-residence for Foundation Capital .

Savage's arrival was the culmination of a shift in strategy for Hammerhead. But the company says no such changes are afoot this time. Keil says Hammerhead's HSX 6000 is on the verge of some deployments by customers -- four of which have been hinted at, none of which have been yet announced. (See Hammerhead Retools MPLS Approach, Has Hammerhead Nailed Verizon?, and Swimming With Hammerhead.)

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading