Leading full-service Management Service Provider (MSP) SilverBack Technologies Inc. announced Monday (Jan 22) that it has named Dan Phillips CEO and Chairman of the Board. Phillips will lead the company’s sales, marketing and financial operations, while charting its strategic direction with former CEO and founder John Igoe, who will assume president and Chief Operating Officer responsibilities, which include a focus on the company’s international business operations efforts.
“Since day one, SilverBack Technologies has believed that in order to attain its goal of becoming a leading worldwide MSP solutions provider, we’d need to continue to add impact players to our team – individuals who can increase the overall company skill set and valuation,” Igoe said. “Dan’s diverse background and well-rounded experience in the technology business marketplace will help prepare our company for the challenges we will face in 2001 and enable SilverBack to continue the great track record we have established.”
Prior to joining SilverBack, Phillips was executive vice president and COO at Concord Communications, a network performance and availability enterprise software vendor. During his tenure at Concord, the company’s operations grew from $3.5 million to approximately $100 million over a period of six years. In addition, with Phillips’ guidance, Concord’s employee base increased from 35 to approximately 450 employees.
“It’s in a very similar space to SilverBack, except Concord serves the high-end enterprise market and SilverBack serves SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses)” Phillips told ASP News. “The thing is, companies like Concord all want to figure out how to move downstream to reach SilverBack’s market.”
The difficulties for companies serving the enterprise market are caused primarily by the architecture of their software design, Phillips said. “They have to install their entire product on-site, and install it per-customer. That makes it very expensive, and very hard to maintain. It’s out of reach for SMBs.”
While at Concord, Phillips also served as senior vice president of worldwide sales and technical services. Prior to Concord, Phillips held various sales management positions at Epoch Systems, a network storage management software company, and Applix Inc., a Unix based office automation software designer, where he was responsible for the development of both domestic and international sales operations and strategies.
Phillips has led the three start-ups he has worked with to IPO or acquisition. He sees his role at SilverBack as taking it to the next level. “The infrastructure is in place, there’s good technology and good management,” he said. “It’s important now to keep the company focused — focused on the value they provide, focused on their mission within all departments.”
There are no hard feelings for Igoe, Phillips said. “John came to me. Even though he had a strong team in place, he was trying to increase the odds. It’s not a move he had to make, and it’s not a move many founders would make.”
“It was always part of the original plan,” confirmed VP marketing Skip MacAskill. “It was a difficult decision to make, and it was made in the best interest of the company, with all personal agendas aside.”
SilverBack is a privately held company headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, founded in spring 1999 by former executives of Nortel Networks Corporation and Micromuse Inc. SilverBack is an industry pioneer Management Service Provider (MSP) and has developed a turnkey service that delivers specific, timely and actionable information to front-line network managers, planners and executive management via a web-based portal.
SilverBack is a founding and executive member of the MSP Association, an international industry consortium formed to define, shape and promote the emerging manag
ed network services sector to aid in accelerating the adoption of MSPs.
