Big data-optimized storage solutions maker Permabit announced it has promoted Michael Fortson, who previously served as the company’s Director of Engineering and Chief Architect, to the position of VP of Engineering.  Fortson has been a likely candidate, considering his previous role and over 10 years of experience working within the data storage industry.

Fortson was in charge of  Enterprise Archive during his tenure with the company as well as the development of Albireo, Permabit’s benchmark-setting data optimized software (and flagship product) that managed to occupy the top spot as the fastest offering in its field for quite a while now.  The latest version officially broke the previous one’s record when an independent study by the Enterprise Strategy Group Lab reported a dedupe speed of 400GB/sec. This represents a 250 percent increase compared to the earlier release.

“Michael has been instrumental in leading the organization responsible for the development and delivery of Albireo and Albireo VDO to our OEM partners. He will continue to evolve our technology to maintain Permabit’s leadership in data efficiency, with a mission to deliver products that massively improve the performance and efficiency of data creation, transmission and storage,” said Permabit CTO Jered Floyd.

There has been some high-level executive shuffling recently in the IT industry, extending beyond Permabit’s latest change.  After word came out Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whiteman (who’s rather new to the position herself) will not stick with plans initiated by previous head Leo Apotheker to spin off the company’s PC business, Phil McKinne left the company.  McKinne served as the VP and CTO of the unit, and was disgruntled with the new strategy based on a published note. And last week IBM appointed its first female CEO: Virginia Rometty, who has officially become one of the most influential women in the tech industry today.