Force10 Gets New CEO

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Charis 12/5/2012 | 2:23:27 AM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Force10 reported in its own press release some incredible number in terms of % increase of 10GE.

With over $300 m raised, the only relevant question is what is the profit margin on these shipments. It all what Force10 is saying is true and Force10 has positive profit margin then it should be filing S-1 very soon.

The trouble is at over $5m / month burn, even at 50% profit margin the company would need at least $30 million to get break even profitibability.

Anyone else have news on Force10?

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edgesansonet 12/5/2012 | 2:23:11 AM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO I can only tell you that some people at Force10 are seeking greener pastures. Seems people work hard but that is not hard enough. May be, it is the market. Hiring has become better and people will not think twice this time though.

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mugwhump 12/4/2012 | 11:49:18 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Knew Marc from his days at Cisco. Really a top notch guy, and will help them move to the next level.

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wilecoyote 12/4/2012 | 11:49:17 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Agree, mug. Marc is a classy guy, very salesy for an engineering VP (sales guys ask for him all the time--while asking PK to stay home), the customers like him and he knows how to sell against Cisco. Doesn't hurt that 3/4 of the company worked directly for him prior to this promotion. I think Marc will make a very good CEO.

Kudos to the Board for making this move. It was gutsy but smart. You don't shoot a CEO without a replacement in mind. Here they have a natural and smooth transition, palatable for employees, partners, investors and customers. And a guy who can do the job.

I am very happy for Force10's employees. They must be dancing in the hallways. Too bad none of my buddies are there anymore (fired or quit) to enjoy this day.

P.S. What happened to John Jendricks? Was he "forced" out too? He wouldn't have quit. He's a believer. I wonder if he was canned.

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PacketProtector 12/4/2012 | 11:49:11 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO John Jendricks was PK's corporate wife. I can't see him staying there without PK to protect him. He thinks a lot of himself, so it's doubtful he'd have chosen to stay to work under Randall either. He never added much value, he had no real responsibility other than running IT and being PK's alter ego. But he did like to feel empowered by convincing PK to fire people on a regular basis.

What will be really interesting is to see if Force10, a company built to provide Metro Ethernet equipment to the Yipes and Cogents of the world can reinvent themselves in a nitch market like grid computing and clustering and come out with enough revenue to cover the burn.

The burn rate has to remain high given that they've got to spin ASICs to get any major new feature. They are in a race against time.

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ontheground 12/4/2012 | 11:49:11 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Reading about Procket and now Force10, it feels shocking that VCs - (who probably never have run companies themselves, or dealt operationally in these tough economic times) - think that they know more about running a company than senior business execs!

Also in both cases, it is clear that "Business Guys" are getting sidelined by "Techies". This is happening may be because of inexperienced VCs who have never been VP sales/ CEOs themselves (and thus don't understand real world issues).

Tech industry needs more business guys, people who have "business blood". At the end of day, enterprises become successful because of their business models and execution, not because they had the best technology or best products (key examples are success of MSFT, WMT, DELL). I can even bet that with these incidents common, it will be a while before the tech industry can repeat those great successes.

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dbostan 12/4/2012 | 11:49:01 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO What was exactly John Jendricks doing at F10?

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jamesbond 12/4/2012 | 11:48:58 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO What was exactly John Jendricks doing at F10?
--------------------------------

What do VPs/Directors etc do at companies?

Absolutely nothing. My 2 cents :)

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ontheground 12/4/2012 | 11:48:56 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Can someone explain to me why is a VP engineering the best move for a company which is "looking to expand aggressively into sales and marketing"?

I believe the current CEO had taken his earlier company to a successful IPO. I dont know - but if he was not good enough to drive sales, then why should a techie be good for driving sales. I don't get this!

btw, does someone know who replaced Kruepe at Procket?? is it Tony li - who is Procket's techie?

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dbostan 12/4/2012 | 11:48:56 PM

re: Force10 Gets New CEO Jamesbond,
While I met some VPs/Directors that deserve your 2 cents, I also met some very good ones, who deserve significantly more.
Your posting does not have any facts, what I was looking for...

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