Isilon at NAB
Stopped by the Isilon booth a couple of times. Traffic seemed steady. Isilon held their meetings away from the booth, so it didn’t have the level of activity of, say, Omneon’s booth.

NAB is their biggest show of the year and the market where they have the biggest footprint. Their booth was the same size as EMC’s nearby – and much quieter booth – despite a Hulk display that looked like an embarrassed afterthought.

Personnel changes at Isilon
Isilon CEO Sujal Patel was there. We discussed my theory that Peter van Oppen had joined the board as a prelude to becoming CEO. Sujal assured me I’d gotten it wrong – that he was in it for the long haul, with Peter as a senior and trusted advisor.

Looking at him I believed. Sujal has developed the gravitas of a leader. Watching his company almost die – and his net worth drop from $75 million to $12 million – seems to have concentrated his mind.

He’s also hired a CTO. Looks like Sujal has moved on for good.

The StorageMojo take
Anyone waiting for Isilon to lay down and die has a long wait. While they may have alienated Wall Street – for good reason – customers seem to like what they have. They’re coming through the storm.

Comments welcome, of course. Isilon was also doing the “shown but not announced” thing with some products due later this year. Sujal asked that I not write about them and I said I wouldn’t. But the engineers have been busy.