Lance Smith CEO, Primary Data

Data virtualization start-up Primary Data, Inc. announced that information technology industry veteran Lance Smith has joined the company as CEO.

Previously president and COO at Fusion-io, he provided strategy development and operational leadership to grow the flash memory innovator from its start-up phase alongside co-founder David Flynn who selected Smith to lead the company as CEO, enabling Flynn to become CTO and focus on developing industry-changing technology.

“Getting data beyond boundaries through virtualization is essential to finally unlocking the mobility required for agile open computing platforms, webscale growth, the Internet of Things, and the shift to the cloud,” said Smith. “I’m delighted to join David and Rick White once again at Primary Data along with the team of visionary executives. We’re excited to bring our talents together again to create solutions that enable companies to gain more visibility, insight, and control over their data.”

 Smith joins Primary Data from SanDisk Corporation, where he became SVP and GM of the ioMemory solutions division following the SanDisk acquisition of Fusion-io. Previous to SanDisk, he was president and COO at Fusion-io, where he provided executive leadership across operations, engineering, and strategy to lead the company through rapid growth and global expansion. At Fusion-io, he played a role in architecting development strategies, cultivating relationships with key customers, and expanding operations in China and other high growth markets. Prior to Fusion-io, heh was a co-founder, GM and VP at Cupertino semiconductor company RMI, where he led the communication and networking processor group that was acquired by Netlogic and then by Broadcom. He has also held senior executive positions of companies that transacted for billions of dollars, including the IPO of Fusion-io, the acquisition of NexGen by AMD, and the start-up Pacific Broadband being sold to Juniper Networks.

Primary Data is a start-up in stealth mode developing data virtualization solutions that improve enterprise efficiency and agility by aligning applications, servers, and storage systems. Through data virtualization, its platform simplifies complexity and boosts efficiency across systems with existing infrastructure.

“Lance is an inspiring leader who captures opportunities through strategic vision and excellence in execution, and I am thrilled that he is leading us at Primary Data,” said Flynn. “History has shown that we make an excellent team, and I’m pleased to be working together again to solve fundamental challenges for modern enterprises. I was CTO of Fusion-io for the first few years, and with Lance at the helm, I can now dedicate my full attention to technology development as our team architects breakthrough solutions that deliver data mobility through virtualization.”