EMC Hires Away Execs From Microsoft, Oracle For Isilon Unit

Barbara Gordon, who left her role as vice president of worldwide customer support at Microsoft last month after nine years at the company, is now COO of EMC's Isilon unit, responsible for "a wide set of operational functions," an EMC spokesperson said in an email.

Phil Bullinger, a 15-year storage industry veteran who has spent the last two-plus years at Oracle as senior vice president of storage, is now EMC Isilon's senior vice president of engineering and operations, the spokesperson said in the email.

[Related: Microsoft Taps New Worldwide Support VP As 9-Year Vet Barbara Gordon Departs ]

Gordon joined Microsoft in 2003 as vice president of global accounts and had been running Microsoft's 9,500 person global Customer Service and Support (CSS) organization since 2009.

Prior to that, Gordon spent 19 years at Sun Microsystems, serving as chief of staff for Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman, president and CEO. Later, she was vice president of worldwide software sales under Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's executive vice president of software.

At Oracle, Bullinger oversaw product planning and engineering for the vendor's SAN/NAS storage systems business. Before that, he was executive vice president and general manager for the Engenio Storage Group, a division of LSI Corporation.

Bullinger holds five storage technology and integrated circuit design patents.

EMC acquired Isilon Systems in 2010 for $2.25 billion, just a couple of months after HP beat Dell in an extended bidding war for 3Par, an Isilon rival.

Gordon and Bullinger are examples of how EMC "continues to draw top talent from around the world," an EMC spokesperson said in an email.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 10, 2013