Floyd named CEO at Cyan

Petaluma network equipment maker Cyan named a new CEO on Tuesday as the fast-growing company expands into new markets outside the United States.

Mark Floyd, an industry veteran who became Cyan's board chairman in January, is now the company's chief executive, succeeding Cyan founder Mike Hatfield.

Hatfield remains company president.

"It's exciting to have someone of Mark's caliber," Hatfield said Tuesday. "With Cyan's rapid global expansion underway, the timing is perfect."

Cyan launched its network access platform in the U.S. in 2008 and has grown quickly, doubling sales in each of the past two years, the company said Tuesday. It declined to disclose revenue figures.

Cyan sells fiber optic technology to 90 telephone companies, cable networks, data centers, business networks and wireless carriers. It also makes software that helps customers manage their networks.

In recent months, Cyan has launched its platform in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Floyd said.

"We now see an even greater opportunity to increase our investment in international markets and accelerate our growth," he said.

Hatfield has created some of the most successful startups in Sonoma County's Telecom Valley. A former vice president of marketing at Advanced Fibre Communications, he co-founded Cerent, which was sold to Cisco Systems in 1999 for $7.3 billion. He then founded Calix, when went public in 2010 and reported $345 million in sales last year.

Cyan, formed in 2006, has about 110 employees at its headquarters in Petaluma and about 45 at other locations.

Floyd was a leader at SafeNet, NetSocket, Riverbed, Efficient Networks, Entrisphere, Siemens and other telecommunication companies before joining Cyan's board in 2007.

He also has a background in the venture capital business. Cyan has raised nearly $100 million in venture funds since its inception.