Coraid Inc., a leading developer of Ethernet SAN solutions with more than 1,400 customers worldwide, today announced the formation of its Customer Advisory Council. Members of the council represent top executives from industry-leading companies in a wide variety of markets including Shutterstock, Legg Mason Capital Management, Exegy, Inc., Pac-West Telecomm, Thought Equity Motion, Smartronix, and Northrop Grumman Corporation. The Customer Advisory Council will work closely with Coraid's executive team to forecast future data center requirements; identify emerging trends in the cloud, virtualization, and storage markets; and develop and refine product roadmaps.

Charter members of the Customer Advisory Council represent leaders in the security, government, equity management, automobile manufacturing, video licensing services and other fields.

• Chris Fischer, director of web operations and IT, Shutterstock Images, the world's largest subscription-based stock photo agency.
• James Hancock, director of infrastructure technology, Legg Mason Capital Management, a leading equity manager.
• Bill Hildebrandt, director of IT and operations, Exegy Inc., a provider of hardware-accelerated market data systems for financial organizations.
• Matt Krokosz, CTO, Pac-West Telecomm, a provider of wholesale advanced telecommunications services.
• Mark Lemmons, CTO, Thought Equity Motion, a leading provider of video platform and footage licensing services.
• David Streed, senior program manager, Smartronix, a global professional solutions provider.

"Coraid is deeply committed to customer success, and our Customer Advisory Council provides an ideal vehicle for executive-level networking, idea sharing and innovation," said Kevin Brown, CEO, Coraid. "Members bring a unique forward-thinking perspective to the council and extensive, high-level experience with the storage demands of some of the world's leading organizations. Their insight into the industry will help Coraid in building a world-class storage platform."