Silver Peak Names Founder David Hughes as CEO

Will Build on Record YoY Performance and Lead Expansion to Next-Gen Virtualized Network Services

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 19, 2013 – Silver Peak Systems, the leader in accelerating data over distance, today announced that founder and CTO David Hughes has been named CEO. Hughes will build on the company’s rapid growth and market leadership in virtual WAN optimization software, which has propelled Silver Peak to record year-over-year performance and six consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth. Hughes succeeds Rick Tinsley who was hired by Hughes in 2004 to build out the organization.

“I want to thank Rick Tinsley for his extraordinary dedication and commitment, which has been vital in bringing Silver Peak to where it is today,” said Hughes. “Rick has navigated our company through difficult waters that have stranded many of our competitors. Our company is strong, well-positioned, and committed to our vision.  We are revolutionizing the WAN optimization market and in the process transforming ourselves into a software company.”

Silver Peak is recognized as the fastest growing virtual WAN optimization company by leading industry analysts. According to Dell’Oro Group’s Q1 2013 Data Center Appliance Report, most of the revenue growth in the WAN optimization market will be driven by virtual appliances. The report notes that “virtual WANOP appliances provide greater flexibility in application optimization and data access in the cloud as well as between disparate data centers and branch offices.”

IDC research director of datacenter networks Brad Casemore said, “With virtual product now accounting for more than 40% of its total sales, Silver Peak is among the vendors benefiting from the increased demand for software-based WAN optimization.”

“This is the most exciting time in Silver Peak’s history with our revenue growth and market leadership in virtualized networking software creating new market opportunities,” added Hughes. “We will focus on growing our WAN optimization business by leading the transition to software, while fostering the emergence of a next generation of opportunities around virtual network services.”

About David Hughes
David Hughes launched Silver Peak Systems in 2004 after a year as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark Capital. From 2000 to 2002, Hughes was a vice president and general manager at BlueLeaf Networks, where he led a team developing a unique network switching and transmission system. From 1996 to 2000, Hughes held several positions at Cisco Systems, including director of system architecture for the BPX and MGX product lines, and was senior director of product management for the Multi-Service Switching Business Unit.  Prior to Cisco, Hughes was a key engineering contributor at StrataCom, an early pioneer in frame relay and ATM equipment which was acquired by Cisco in 1996. Before StrataCom, David worked as an engineer for BNR Japan/Northern Telecom Japan Inc. Hughes has been awarded more than 40 patents in areas including data acceleration, packet switching, control and scheduling algorithms. Hughes earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Wollongong University, Australia, and holds a BE in Electrical Engineering from Auckland University, New Zealand.

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About Silver Peak Systems
Silver Peak software accelerates data between data centers, remote offices and the cloud. The company’s software-defined acceleration solves network quality, capacity and distance challenges to provide fast and reliable access to data anywhere in the world. Leveraging its leadership in data center class wide area network (WAN) optimization, Silver Peak is a key enabler for strategic IT projects like virtualization, big data and disaster recovery. Download Silver Peak software today at www.silver-peak.com/marketplace.