Mission Critical Linux names new chief operating officer
The company taps into old-guard talent, hiring Robert Tumanic away from corporate-computing veteran Unisys to become the start-up's chief operating officer.
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Tumanic, formerly vice president and managing principal of Unisys operations, will assume the new post Monday, Mission Critical Linux chief executive Moiz Kohari said in an interview.
"Our growth curve is going to look like a hockey stick," Kohari said, referring to the steep acceleration of revenue computing companies strive for. "Bob has the type of experience to manage revenue expectations and manage the internal organization and get the sales channels set up right."
Mission Critical Linux, a Lowell, Mass., company, which received a $20 million investment in June from General Atlantic Partners, sells Linux systems and services to large companies that need systems that won't crash. The company is populated by numerous former Compaq Computer employees.
"We have million-dollar contracts starting to come in," boasted Kohari, saying the company has wrestled some accounts from Red Hat and Linuxcare. In the long run, though, the company will compete with much larger companies, such as IBM, EDS and Hewlett-Packard, he said.
Tumanic spent five years at Unisys and before that was a partner at Deloitte & Touche in Chicago.
Mission Critical Linux, with about 100 employees, has enough money to run for 18 months, Kohari said. "The way things are moving, definitely don't be surprised if we show profitability in the next 21 months," he added.
Co-founder Steve Austin had been COO but now will become senior vice president of engineering, "which is really his forte," Kohari said.