OTTAWA — June 22, 2022 — High performance networking company Rockport Networks today announced the appointment of data center industry executive Phil Harris as CEO of the switchless network innovator. With more than two decades in corporate leadership, he will focus on the way next-generation networks are changing how high-performance data centers are designed, deployed, and operated both economically and environmentally, the company said.
“With an exceptional track record in developing and driving market-shifting technology and systems architectures, he is a visionary leader recognized for his ability to define and establish emerging market categories,” Rockport said.
Prior to Rockport Networks, Harris was vice president and goup manager with Intel Corporation responsible for its Data Center Systems and Solutions Group, including full P&L responsibility as well as leadership across strategy, architecture, product management, marketing, systems development engineering, global supply chain and product support/customer success functions. He also served as a VP and SVP for Riverbed Technologies, BMC Software, and Cisco Systems.
He is also knowledgeable in systems design, development, deployment, and implementation for varying market segments including internet, content, and cloud service providers; commercial enterprises, and the public sector across developed and emerging geographies.
“With his industry experience, strategic vision, and commercial success, Phil is ideally suited to lead Rockport as the company enters its next stage of growth,” said Andrew Lapham, co-founder and CEO, Northern Private Capital. “Disruptive technologies demand passionate leadership making his energy, creativity and focus a perfect match. On behalf of the entire investment group, we thank both Doug Carwardine and Marc Sultzbaugh for their past leadership guiding the company to its current level.”
“We’re entering a new age of high-performance networking where the industrialization of HPC, the shifting sands of AI and demands of composable infrastructure are changing the way we approach our greatest compute, storage, and environmental challenges,” said Harris. “Our approach to tackling the fabric of the future is a complete gamechanger.”
The Rockport solution is now in use with multiple customers including Durham University, UK to support exascale modeling on the COSMA7 cluster and Frontera, the fastest university supercomputer located at the University of Texas’ Advanced Computing Center, Austin.
