Procket Networks, a startup challenging Cisco and Juniper in the terabit router market,
confirmed that its president and CEO has resigned “for personal reasons.”
Randall J. Kruep, who also served as a director, had been with the Milpitas, Calif. since May 2001, left late last week, Procket spokesman Ben Gibson said. Kruep will stay on as an advisor during a transition period.
Until a permanent replacement is found, Paul Matteucci, a partner with U.S. Venture Partners, a Procket backer, will lead Procket. Previously, Matteucci was CEO at HearMe and previously held posts at Adaptec, Texas Instruments and Tandem Computers.
Procket’s PRO/8000 High-Availability Router Series is being used, or tested, by more than 20 service provider and enterprise customers. Procket will also try and sell the products to government agencies.
The company’s offering was announced earlier this year, four years after the company was
founded by industry veterans including Bill Lynch and Tony Li. In that time, Procket (a
shortened version of Packet Rocket) amassed a $272 million in venture capital in three
rounds.
It has always been tight-lipped, though, offering few details about the company’s structure or products. And since its privately held, it’s under no obligation to do so.
Because of the PRO/8000 routers high capacities and lower power consumption, customers will save money over traditional offerings, Procket said. The products also occupy less floor space.
In conjunction with the router release, Procket also revamped the accompanying software. The company’s PRO/1 application has developed enables autonomic operation — the ability to heal, configure, monitor and protect itself. This cuts lost revenues due to downtime, whether it is planned or unplanned.
