Redwood City, Calif. – U3 announced two executive appointments today adding Gideon Shaanan as CTO and product VP and Steve Brown as business development VP.
U3 is the joint venture between SanDisk and M-Systems to develop the USB flash drive as a platform for software applications.
Shaanan, a former principle at the consulting firm Catalyst Strategies, held positions at Apple, Alchemedia, and National Geographic.
Brown was formerly senior business development director for Everypath, a developer of mobile applications for enterprise customers. He was also an executive at Motorola and palmOne where he spearheaded the company’s entry into the licensing business.
The U3 platform aims to “transform USB flash drives from simple storage devices into USB smart drives,” the company said. These drives can store a “personal workspace” of files, software programs, passwords and other personal preferences that will let users work off the drive on any PC without having to install additional software. When the drive is removed, all data, software applications and personal files go with it.
U3 recently announced that Kingston, Verbatim and Memorex would manufacturer U3-enabled USB flash drives for sale later this year.
