Ram Gupta
Start-up Cast Iron Systems plans to announce next week that it has named former PeopleSoft executive Ram Gupta as president and chief executive, replacing Fred Meyer, who will serve on the company's board.
The venture-backed company makes an appliance designed specifically for , or transferring data and transactions between different systems, such as between a payroll application and a human resources database. Gupta said the company's mission is to "commoditize integration," a costly task, about which corporate chief information officers consistently complain. Specifically, Gupta intends to seek partnerships with packaged-application vendors and to develop a hosted application integration offering, he said.