The CEO Shuffle is in full force in the IT infrastructure industry. Geoff Barrall, founder and CEO of Data Robotics, recently stepped aside for Tom Buiocchi, and Alex Bakman of VKernel shifted to CTO, bringing in Doug McNary. Now Panasas and ParaScale are replacing their CEOs with industry veterans. The message is clear: The economy is improving, and investors want their portfolio companies to begin growing again.

Dell picked up clustered NAS pro Exanet, finally signing the dotted line after months of speculation. The US $12 million purchase follows reports that the company was going into receivership in December after failing to repay a US $10 million loan from Kreos Capital.