Douglas L. Davis
Founder, President and CEO
Doug is a co-founder of BitSpeed, and from 2007-2010 was an investor and strategic advisor. Starting August 1, 2010, Doug has joined BitSpeed as its full-time operational President and CEO.
From 2008-2010, Doug performed Business Development work in the mass storage software industry, helping a company build its MSP (Managed Services Provider) program and to set up two significant resale contracts with Tier 1 storage vendors.
In December 2001 he founded CoBuilder, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to helping technology companies with sales, marketing and management in North America and Europe.
From 2000-2001, Doug was Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President Sales and Marketing, North America for Vertex Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ NMS:VETX), a leader in Supply Chain software systems. He was responsible for managing operations in North America and coordinating with the European Group to help grow products, services and revenues.
Before joining Vertex, Doug was President and CEO of Tape Laboratories, Inc., a mass storage software and systems company, from 1997-2000. Doug was responsible for the focus and direction of the company, and had responsibility for developing and implementing new channel and growth strategies.
From 1988-1997, Doug held a number of senior level positions, culminating in Vice President, North American Sales, for the Peak Technologies Group, Inc. He was responsible for 100+ sales reps and a $150 million revenue division of the company.
Doug graduated from Stanford University with an AB degree in Political Science and holds an MBA in Finance from UCLA’s Andersen Graduate School of Management. He spent 15 years growing up in Europe, and speaks French fluently, with some German and Spanish as well.
Allan Ignatin
Founder, Vice-President and CTO
Allan has 45 years’ experience in technology companies, focusing on product innovation and executive management. He is a founder of, investment partner in, and Vice-President and CTO of BitSpeed.
Prior to co-founding BitSpeed, Allan was the founder of Tape Laboratories, Inc. in 1990. During the following 17 years, Allan built TapeLabs into a successful OEM manufacturer of tape subsystems for many well-known major system suppliers, and conceived, developed, and successfully marketed the Virtual TapeServer (VTS), a virtualized system emulating tape libraries and subsystems. Thousands of VTS systems are installed worldwide at stock exchanges, banks, financial services companies, healthcare providers, Telco’s, and other major organizations.
In 2006, TapeLabs was acquired by Crossroads Systems, where Allan served as Chief Technology Officer.
Before founding TapeLabs, Allan was Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at MegaTape Corporation, an early manufacturer of cartridge tape devices. During Allan’s 5-year tenure at MegaTape, the company’s sales moved from near zero to over $16 million, due primarily to his efforts in redefining the company’s product line with innovative technologies and OEM-focused sales and marketing.
Allan’s career in information technology began in 1965 when he joined IBM Corporation as an Industrial Psychologist, quickly moving to systems design and engineering as his fascination with technology became evident.
Allan graduated from Temple University with both BA and MA degrees in Psychology. While an undergraduate, Allan was a point-guard on Temple’s Division 1 Basketball team.
Jean-Michel Guillou
Vice-President EMEA
Jean-Michel has 35 years’ experience in Storage technology, focusing on engineering, marketing, sales and executive management as both an executive and an entrepreneur.
From 2000-2003, Jean-Michel was the EMEA Director for Storage solutions at BMC Software, a leader in Enterprise Systems & Data Management. Before joining BMC, Jean-Michel was the International Director for Storage management at Sterling Software and then at Computer Associates after the Sterling acquisition by CA.
From 1987-1999, Jean-Michel started multiple storage companies including Stordata, with the primary target of promoting Exabyte and Legato in Europe, and Advanced Computer Peripherals, with SpectraLogic products such as Alexandria, a high-end backup software tool for large databases.
From 1984 to 1986, Jean-Michel was the Director of Marketing and President of the North American operation at THOMSON for the first 12 inch WORM optical disc in the market.
From 1968 to 1984, Jean-Michel was a tape design engineer at Honeywell-Bull, and then has held various positions in product marketing and product planning for the storage peripherals division at Honeywell.
Jean-Michel graduated from ENREA in Paris with a BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering.