Pliant Technology, developer of enterprise-class solid state storage devices designed to dramatically reduce IT costs, today announced the appointment of Frank Kull as vice president of operations.  Bringing more than 15 years of experience in operations management for Google, Cisco Systems and other leading technology companies, Kull will focus on driving volume production of Pliant’s Lightning product line to meet the rapidly growing market demand from OEMs, channel solutions partners and enterprise IT organizations.

Pliant’s Lightning Enterprise Flash Drives (EFDs) provide breakthrough levels of performance, reliability and efficiency, enabling data center IT infrastructure and system providers to do more for less – achieve significantly higher system performance with less power, lower cost and a smaller footprint.  Leveraging Pliant’s proven technology approach, its Lightning products are specifically designed for demanding, mission-critical 24x7 data center applications, including financial services, high-performance computing (HPC) and digital media applications.

In his new role, Kull will manage Pliant’s overall manufacturing operations, including supply chain management, cost management, logistics and quality control.  Leveraging his strategic expertise and proven track record helping technology leaders rapidly scale operations while simultaneously managing demanding customer expectations, Kull will be instrumental in taking Pliant’s production capabilities to the next level as the company prepares to fulfill high-volume product deliveries to OEMs, channel partners and enterprise IT customers.

“Frank is the ideal individual to help Pliant aggressively ramp-up to meet what we believe is an enormous, and growing demand for more efficient storage solutions from virtually every large-scale computing operation around the world,” said Mike Chenery, president and co-founder of Pliant Technology.  “He has extensive experience in manufacturing operations and has helped some of the biggest names in the tech business quickly and efficiently add production capabilities to address new and rapidly expanding market opportunities.”

Frank Kull has more than15 years of operations experience in leading high-technology companies through dynamic and high growth markets.  Prior to joining Pliant, Kull was the head of Enterprise Manufacturing at Google, Inc., focusing on new product introduction, supply chain flexibility, cost management, quality, and scalability.  He has also held senior management positions at Cisco and Polycom.  Kull holds a masters degree from the University of San Francisco, and has a B.S. degree in business management from San Jose State University.